
Glass __ 



Book 



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Copyrights. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE VETERAN'S CHARGE TO THE BEGINNER. 

"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead 
at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; 
be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, 
exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the 
time will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
trine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to 
themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they 
shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall 
be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, 
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make 
full proof of thy ministry. For I am now ready to be 
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, 
I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not 
to me only, but unto all them also that love His ap- 
pearing." PAUL. 



Copyright, 1914, by Wilson Whitney. 



The Christian Mysteries 

and Other Sermons 

and Papers 




By REV. WILSON WHITNEY 

AUTHOR OF 
EPOCHS AND PHASES OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 



, L045-C5- 



CONTENTS 
Preface 
Introduction Rev. Charles E. Conley 

I. The Christian Mysteries 1 

An Easter Sermon preached before the Bedford Com- 
mandery Knights Templar, Bedford, Ind., April 3, 
1904. 

" .II. The Pilgrims' Sabbath 18 

A paper read at a banquet at the First Presbyterian 
church, Joliet, 111., in celebration of Forefathers' Day, 
Dec. 16, 1897. 

III. Things Touching the King . .23 

A summer meditation on the forty-fifth psalm. 

IV. Our Denominational Mission 27 

The convention sermon preached before the Indiana 
Baptist State Convention, at Fort Wayne, Oct. 13, 
1908. 

V. Instruction in Baptist Doctrine and History. 47 
A paper read at Adrian, Mich., at a B. Y. P. U. rally 
\ of the Lenawee Association, Oct. 7, 1891. 

* VI. The Master Passion 57 

A Baccalaureate sermon delivered in the First Baptist 
church, Adrian, Mich., June 21, 1891, before the High 
school graduating class. 

VII. The Growing Temple— a Habitation of God. 75 

A study in spiritual architecture. 

VIII. . The New America 85 

A lecture given before a Home Mission Study Class 
at Rochester, Mich., Nov. 19, 1912. 

IX. The Temple of Justice and the House of 

God 105 

or Relations Between the Law and the Gospel. 
A sermon preached at Martinsville, Ind., Dec. 12, 
1909, before the Bar and other officials of Morgan 
county. % 

FEB -4 1914 ^ 



©CI.A361-87& 



X. The Symbolism of the Sealed Book. ..... .117 

A paper -read before the Baptist Ministers' Confer- 
ence, Detroit, Mich., Nov. 17, 1913. 

XL The Voice of the Siren 124 

A sermon preached at the First Baptist church, Joliet, 
111., Nov. 8, 1896, dealing. with the wine cup, the card 
table, the theatre and the dance. 

XII. Parallelism Between the Nation of the 

Jews and the Church of Jesus Christ . . . 133 
A study of world conditions and prospects. 

XIII. Eugenics as a Remedy for the Deteriora- 

tion of Mankind 150 

A paper read before the Woman's Club of Rochester, 
Mich., April 25, 1913. 

XIV. The Minister * .164 

A lecture delivered before the students of Adrian Col- 
lege, Adrian, Mich., April 15, 1895. 

XV. The Pastor in the Pulpit 176 

A paper read before the Baptist Minister's Conference, 
Chicago, 111., April 3, 1899. 

XVI. Looking Toward Home 184 

A sermon for the world-weary. 



PREFACE. 

As is noted in the Contents most of the subjects 
here presented were prepared for special occasions, 
and in most instances very favorably received, and in 
some cases their publication was urged. To show the 
author's appreciation of such kind expressions is one 
reason for presenting this material to his friends in 
its present form. While the subjects are varied, and 
each one is treated independently, yet a few funda- 
mental truths and principles are given repeated em- 
phasis. The author hopes that he has made clear his 
belief in the inerrancy of the scriptures as a rule of 
faith and practice, the simplicity and power of the 
religion of Jesus Christ, the futility of human effort 
to devise a plan of salvation apart from Christ, the 
all-sufficiency of Christ, and the certainty of his re- 
turn to subdue all things unto Himself. He has fur- 
ther sought to show the practical nature of the Christ 
life both in its subjective and objective aspects: the 
need of an intimate personal fellowship with our Be- 
loved, an intense absorbing interest in His work, and 
courageous contention for the faith once delivered. 

If the presentation of his views shall appear to any 
to be too dogmatic, the author has only to say that 
he does not understand how one can present convic- 
tions otherwise than dogmatically. So long as one is 
uncertain what he believes, so long as he holds only 
opinions and speculations, he can do no more than 
express himself tentatively; but when he has thought 
his way through to what he believes to be the revealed 
truth, then he can do no less than state his convic- 
tions. Truth is always dogmatic; whether that truth 
be mathematical, scientific, philosophical or religious. 
The_only thing the positive man can do is to speak 
the truth, always striving to do it in love. With these 
few words of preface these different phases of what 
the writer believes to be truth are sent out upon their 
mission, with a prayer for the divine blessing. 

THE AUTHOR. 

Pastors' Study, Rochester, Mich., 1913. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Not long since in an address in Detroit, Governor Ferris 
said at the close of a statement not fully in accord with the 
so-called "optimism" of today, "Now, you will say I am a 
pessimist." But I say "I am not a pessimist." Then you will 
say, "You are not an optimist, and I will reply "you are cor- 
rect." "But what are you then?" My answer is, "I purpose 
to look at things as they are." 

The Governor's mental attitude towards the condition of 
present-day Society, is the mental attitude of the author of 
this book. He cannot he a pessimist, because he believes in 
the gospel as "the power of God unto salvation to everyone 
that believeth." 

He distinguishes clearly between civilization and regen- 
eration. He does not see in the civilization of any day forces 
that will result in the regeneration of the race. Such forces, 
it is his firm conviction, reside only in the gospel which 
Christ taught and Paul preached. His conviction is equally 
clear that forces in the gospel will eventuate in universal 
conquest. This faith is the strong undertone in the following 
pages. It is a faith, not in man, nor in his splendid con- 
ceits; but it is a faith in God that he will keep His promise 
to His Son, to give him the nations for His inhertance and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. But it 
is also a faith that His promise will be fulfilled according to 
the divine plan, which the author believes is revealed in the 
Scriptures. 

The author has spent the strength of his life in the Chris- 
tian ministry. His experience is ripe. His preaching has 
always been with power. His native ability, his training in 
the higher institutions of learning and a life of close and 
discriminating study specially fit him for such deliverances 
as follow. His investigations are careful and thorough and 
his deductions are fearlessly drawn. He seeks to discover 
truth and point the way to safety rather than to win ap- 
plause for the moment. He has the spirit and something of 



the vision of a Hebrew prophet. The reader, in sympathy 
with the truth as it is in Jesus, will find the volume intel- 
lectually stimulating and spiritually helpful. 

A spirit of organized and tremendous activity is falling 
upon the church. Its vision is world-wide. It is girding 
itself for a gigantic grapple with the kingdom of Satan. In 
their enthusiasm some of its leaders think they see the speedy 
ushering in of the completed kingdom of God, when the earth 
shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord. 

This volume is a steadying voice in the midst of the 
cheering and the shouting incident upon the gathering for 
the fray. It counsels a clear vision as to God's revealed plan 
and a faithful adherence to that plan in our service. It would 
remind us that the kingdom of God is not civilization nor 
education alone, not democracy nor wealth; not worldly wis- 
dom nor humanitarianism simply; but it is "righteousness 
and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." He believes that 
when the kingdom of God has really come, a redeemed hu- 
manity throughout the earth will have these characteristics 
and the experience which these characteristics indicate. Not 
until this vision is realized will the Son of God "see of the 
travail of his Soul and be satisfied." If the church has any 
other vision, it is the author's conviction that even its present 
inspiring purpose for service will eventuate in disaster. The 
writer has known Mr. Whitney and esteemed him for many 
years and has always found him a true yoke-fellow in the 
gospel ministry. He commends the book to the careful read- 
ing of all into whose hands it may fall and believes it will be 
a genuine help in the Christian life and service. 

CHARLES E. CONLEY, 

Detroit, Mich. 

Study, Highland Park Baptist Church. 
Nov. 25, 1913. 



The Christian Mysteries 

John 17:23 — "I in them, and thou in me, that they 
may be perfected into one." 

In this world man is a mystery to himself, and is 
surrounded by mysteries. By force of circumstances 
he must continually be asking questions. It has been 
said that a boy is an animated interrogation point, and 
the child is the father of the man in this regard. So 
long as he is possessed of reason he must inquire. A 
mystery is something not necessarily incomprehensi- 
ble, but not yet understood. As soon as comprehended 
it ceases to be a mystery, and it is the nature of men, 
not only to search out hidden things, but to collect the 
erstwhile mysteries, now clearly comprehended, in a 
body, in the midst of which to seclude themselves from 
their fellow men. They study philosophy and art and 
religion, the natural and the supernatural, and gather- 
ing their stores of knowledge from these various fields 
of research they form themselves into a specially 
favored class, into which others may be received only 
by initiation into the mysteries with which they have 
now become familiar. This occurs to me to be the 
psychological and philosophical explanation of the ex- 
istence of secret orders from their beginning. 

The name mysteries, according to an article in the 
Encyclopedia Britanica, "was applied first to certain 
ceremonies in Greek religion which were esteemed pe- 
culiarly sacred, and might not be freely talked about." 
Thus the use and the explanation of symbols, and cere- 
monies came to be an essential part of all initiatory 
rites. And thus also all secret orders, both ancient 
and modern, have laid claim to religious basis. 
"Of the many mysteries, using the word now in the 
technical sense, which existed in different parts of 



Greece before the beginning of the Christian Era, the 
Eleusinian were the most famous, the most widely 
popular, the most representative in every way/' Fol- 
lowing along the line of the article from which we 
have already quoted, "all ancient testimony tends to 
prove that the ritual was based on religious myths 
similar to those which were common in Greece." The 
Mysteries were distinguished from the ordinary fes- 
tivals by their peculiar magnificence and expense, and 
by the exposure of certain sacred things in a pecu- 
liarly impressive manner to the worship of the par- 
ticipants. Painting, sculpture, architecture, music, 
dancing, etc., were combined with lavish skill to form 
one grand, impressive spectacle. While the strictest 
secrecy was enjoined and observed in regard to the 
Mysteries, the largest opportunity was given to all 
who wished to be initiated, and the secrecy was main- 
tained not so much by oath as by a conscientious re- 
verence for the ceremonies themselves. Those who be- 
lieved in the Mysteries kept in their heart, as a saving 
and sacred possession, the knowledge of what they had 
seen, and heard, and kissed, and handled; the thought 
was too holy to be rashly spoken of, even to the initi- 
ated. Numerous references prove that this mystic 
silence was generally very carefully observed. The 
fact that a silence depending mainly on the individual 
sense of the sacredness of the ceremonies was so gen- 
erally maintained is the best proof of the vitality and 
power of the Mysteries over the common mind. The 
saving and healthy effect of the Eleusinian Mysteries 
was believed in, not only by the mass of the people, 
but by many of the most thoughtful and educated in- 
tellects. This saving power is expressly connected 
with the future life; he that has been initiated has 
learned what will insure his happiness hereafter. Not 
indeed because of the mere outward observance of the 
rites, but because of the effect produced by the initia- 
tion on the life and character of the initiated person. 
According to the highest view of these Mysteries the 
initiation established a kinship of the soul with the 



divine nature. The essential point on which the effect 
of the ceremony depended was that the mind of the 
initiated should be wrought up to a high state of eager, 
wrapt expectancy and breathless attention. The 
grades of admission tended to produce this impression. 
The process of initiation was not a momentary one, 
completed in one act ; it extended over an elaborate ser- 
ies of stages, and the ancients certainly associated 
these successive steps with a gradual increase of knowl- 
edge and insight. The physical circumstances of the in- 
itiation also were calculated to produce an excited and 
high-strung nervous condition. The nine stages past, 
the Jong march from Athens to Eleusis, the wander- 
ing by night with torches in search of the lost: then 
the admission into the holy building; the splendid 
illumination seeming dazzlingly bright after the dark- 
ness outside: the strange apparitions, the impressive 
voices, the gorgeous dresses of the actors, the magnifi- 
cence of the sacred drama: all these seen and heard 
in impressive silence. And after all this the crowning 
act of the ceremony; which it had take a them more 
than a year by successive stages to reach ; the sacred 
draught of wine and the revelation of holy things to 
their astonished vision. They were admitted one by 
one to touch, to kiss the holy things, to lift them from 
the chest, to put them into the basket, to taste them, 
to replace them in the chest, and to pronounce the 
sacred formula. And now the neophyte has become a 
full-fledged adherent, separated ever after from the 
common herd by the knowledge which he has gained of 
these sacred mysteries. It is no wonder that such a 
practice of initiation should produce a powerful im- 
pression upon all who submitted themselves to its in- 
fluence. 

Coming down to the beginning of the Christian 
Era we find the Essenes among the Jews holding much 
the same place in the hearts of those connected with 
the order, and for similar reasons. The Essenes had 
their mysteries, their form of initiation ,their peculiar 
symbolism, their claims to philosophical and spiritual 



insight. Of similar import, and form of organization 
were the Gnostics. While there has been much con- 
troversy as to the origin and progress, as well as the 
nature, of the system thus named, two facts seem to 
me very evident. First, that Gnosticism had become 
prevalent enough even in Apostolic days to have strong 
influence, not only upon the speculative but the relig- 
ious thought of the day. Second, that they threw the 
veil of secrecy over their doctrines, holding them as 
mysteries within the reach of those only who were ini- 
tiated. It may be suggested further that while the 
doctrines and ceremonies of the Essenes and the Gnos- 
tics no doubt had their roots in the Eleusinian Mys- 
teries already described, they accommodated them- 
selves to the modes of religious thought then existing, 
and borrowed largely though superficially from the 
Judaistic and Christian thought of their day. I have 
thus spoken at some length of these ancient orders 
because of their vital relationship to modern Masonry, 
of which Templars form a part. So far as one unini- 
tiated may be able to judge, Masonry had its roots in 
the teachings and practices of the Essenes and Gnos- 
tics, as we have seen that they had their roots in the 
Eleusinian Mysteries. From Mackey's Encyclopedia of 
Free-Masonry I quote his closing words upon the Eleu- 
sinian Mysteries : "The bond of union which connects 
them with the modern initiations of Free-Masonry is 
evident in the common thought which pervades and 
identifies both: though it is difficult, and perhaps im- 
possible, to trace all the connecting links of the histo- 
ric chain." Still further, in speaking of this pre-his- 
toric period of Masonry, Mr. Mackey says: "Let us 
honestly say that we now no longer treat of Free- 
Masonry under its present organization, which we 
know did not exist in those days, but of a science pecu- 
liar, and peculiar only, to the Mysteries and to Free- 
Masonry, — a science which we may call Masonic sym- 
bolism, and which constituted the very heart blood of 
the ancient and the modern institutions, and gave to 
them, while presenting a dissimilarity of form, an 



identity of spirit." Still again, speaking of the differ- 
ent theories of the relation of Free-Masonry to the an- 
cient Mysteries, he says: ''Perhaps, after all, the 
truest theory is that which would discard all succes- 
sive links in a supposed chain of descent from the Mys- 
teries to Free-Masonry, and would attribute their close 
resemblance to a natural coincidence of human 
thought." This is in harmony with the same author's 
definition of Free-Masonry as "A science which is en- 
gaged in the search after Divine truth, and which em- 
ploys symbolism as its method of instruction. ,, That 
is to say, there has always been in the mind and heart 
of man a reaching out after truth which is hidden in 
the regions of the unknown and the mysterious, to- 
gether with a disposition to couch the thought in sym- 
bolic language, which should be known only as mys- 
teries to the uninitiated. 

Mystery is thus seen to have had a peculiar fasci- 
nation for men from the earliest age, and I have been 
at some pains to make this clear so that we may see a 
reason for the repeated mention of mysteries in the 
New Testament Scriptures. I am not unmindful of 
the fact that I am addressing a body of men possessed 
of mysteries beyond the ken of the uninitiated. It 
would be folly for me to attempt to give you instruc- 
tion in the teachings of your craft, or attempt to en- 
lighten the rest of this audience in regard to things of 
which I am as ignorant as they. Still further it 
occurs to me that it would be like carrying coals to 
Newcastle for me to spend the hour in fulsome adula- 
tion of your order, or in meaningless platitudes upon 
the beauties and blessings of the fraternal spirit. 
Moreover, I feel that I should be prostituting holy time 
to ignoble use, and misimproving a great opportunity 
to so doing. I would have the appropriateness of my 
message appear, not because of its treatment of the 
mysteries of the Masonic ritual, of which I know abso- 
lutely nothing; but rather because of the special 
drapery which I may throw around some of the truths 
of revelation upon this occasion. One of your number 



told me the other day that he had been a Mason since 
1882, if I remember rightly. What could I tell him 
about Masonry or Templarism? I can only speak of 
that which I know, and testify that which I have seen. 
I have been a Christian since 1858, and have sought to 
be a diligent student of the mysteries of the Christian 
faith, and concerning some of these mysteries I wish 
to speak to you. I am here to speak, not of Templar- 
ism, but of Christianity, not of chivalry but of 
Ohristlikeness. The New Testament writings abound 
in references which indicate that in those times the 
conditions which I have described prevailed. There 
were secret cults, holding scientific, philosophical, the- 
ological mysteries, and men were hungry to know, and 
so they sought by initiation to learn what was other- 
wise hidden. So Christ first, and the apostles after- 
ward, speak of the mysteries of the kingdom of 
heaven, mysteries hidden for ages and for generations, 
and still unknown to the world at large, but revealed to 
receptive hearts, willing to go through the process of 
initiation. They speak further of going on from glory 
to glory in the various degrees of the heavenly craft, 
till at last the final stage shall be reached and the 
neophyte shall be led out of the darkness of this lower 
world into the ineffable brilliancy of the life eternal. 

1. You require initiation in order to have an un- 
derstanding of the mysteries in your possession. So 
there is an initiation into the Christian mysteries, in- 
stituted by the High Priest of our profession ; in whom 
all power, legislative, executive and judicial rests. 
The initiation He terms regeneration, a new birth from 
above ; that is, through the agency of the Holy Spirit. 
Let none confuse this experience of regeneration, this 
initiation which our Lord declares absolutely necessary 
to an understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom 
of heaven, with the formal act of baptism and connec- 
tion with the church. The fellowship of the Christian 
mysteries is invisible. A given church is the outward 
manifestation of that fellowship. Consequently those 
only are eligible to church membership who have al- 



ready passed through the initiation. If by mistake 
the uuinitiated should find their way into the church, 
as is sometimes the case, they will very soon prove 
that no outward sacramental act can open the eyes of 
their understanding to a knowledge of these heavenly 
mysteries. An unregenerate, that is an uninitiated, 
church member will find himself walking in the midst 
of hidden mysteries still, just as surely as a man would 
find himself out of place in your lodge room who should 
enter some other way than by the open door of initia- 
tion. He would no doubt soon go out from you because 
of the discovery that he was not of you. This initia- 
tion into the mysteries of the kingdom by the process 
of the new birth is itself a mystery, as much as your 
method of initiation is to us upon the outside. We can 
only say that "Spiritual things are spiritually dis- 
cerned." "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence 
it cometh, nor whither it goeth : so is every one that 
is born of the Spirit." We can only say that "To such 
as have been born of the Spirit is it given to know the 
mysteries of the kingdom, while to others it is not 
given." These things have been withheld from the 
wise and prudent and revealed unto babes : that is, to 
those who have submitted their wills to the Divine 
Guide, the Holy Spirit, and been led by Him out of the 
darkness of ignorance and sin into the glorious light 
and liberty of the children of God. 

2. I want to say, in the second place, that no pro- 
cess of independent research of any man or set of 
men, apart from the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, 
can ever induct one into the myteries of the kingdom 
of heaven. These mysteries culminate in a God-like 
life as their outward manifestation. From the very in- 
fancy of our race men have been asking: "How shall 
a man be just with God?" Or, "How can he be clean 
that is bom of a woman ?" Men have been exercising 
themselve upon this problem from the beginning. It 
was a matter which even angels desired to look into, 
which was hidden from ages and from generations. 



and which none of the princes of this world knew. It 
pleased God thus to let men try the metal of their 
powers for four thousand years, and sages and philoso- 
phers and wise men of all the nations were occupied 
in the search after the hidden wisdom, the Divine 
Truth, which should bring them into harmony with 
God, and make them one in nature with Himself. And 
the only result of their united and protracted efforts 
was to make full proof of the fact that the world by 
wisdom knows not God. "The natural man receiveth 
not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are fool- 
ishness unto him : neither can he know them, because 
they are spiritually discerned." I wish now to appeal 
to you men for a verification of these declarations of 
Holy Writ along the line of your own experience. 
What does the history of your order show as to the 
possibility of unaided human thought solving the mys- 
teries of our relationship to God, and of the future 
which awaits us? How does the case stand with you? 
I have quoted the definition of Free-Masonry as given 
by one of your highest authorities as "A science which 
is engaged in the search after Divine truth, and which 
uses symbolism as its method of instruction." I have 
also used the same author as my authority that the 
antiquity of your order is not to be established by the 
discovery of all the successive links of an historical 
chain, but rather in a pervasive life maintained 
throughout the ages. He thus determines that this 
search after Divine truth, which he terms the very 
spirit of Free-Masonry, links the order with the va- 
rious orders of the Middle Ages, with the Gnostics 
and Essenes of Christ's day, with the Eleusinians, and 
other religious orders of those days, back into prehis- 
toric times. Coming forward again from those early 
times we find at first that the ancient mysteries were 
essentially pagan, that the Essenes were very much 
modified by Judaism, and that beginning with the 
Gnostics all of the secret orders since the beginning 
of the Christian Era have been greatly influenced by 
Christianity. So that modern Free-Masonry has had 

8 



the advantage, in its search after Divine truth, over 
all preceding organizations. You are monotheistic, 
requiring at least theoretical belief in the true God of 
the universe. You are Christian in so far as to declare 
the Bible the Book of God, but not requiring faith in 
Jesus Christ as the Son of God. You are not only be- 
lievers in that science which is engaged in the search 
after Divine truth, but are professed worshipers of 
Jehovah, calling your lodge room a temple, dedicated 
to Almighty God and consecrated to St. John the Bap- 
tist and St. John the Apostle. Your ritual, I am told, 
is very largely made up of incidents from Bible his- 
tory, and of truths gathered from the symbolism of 
the Old Testament. You have the open Bible upon 
your altar to indicate that truth is open to the earnest 
seeker, and that your hearts are open to its reception. 
You wear purple, the emblem of royalty; white, the 
emblem of purity, and the cross the symbol of devo- 
tion to a holy cause. And yet with all this progress of 
the ages, after this prolonged search of so many gen- 
erations after truth, tell me frankly, have you reached 
the goal ? I think I hear your answer in the fact that 
while the earlier orders of prehistoric times, with 
which Mr. Mackey says you are one in spirit, claimed 
distinctly to be religious orders, you of today claim no 
moie than to be a secular order based upon religious 
principles, although you have vastly more of correct 
religious symbolism than the orders of an earlier day. 
I think I find an answer also in the words of one of 
your number, Judge McNemer, of Little Rock, Ark., 
who has been an enthusiastic Free Mason all his life, 
rising to the height of the 32d degree. His testimony 
is to the effect that there is nothing in Free-Masonry 
to prepare a man for entrance into heaven. I think I 
find your answer in the declaration of Mr. Mackey in 
his exposition of the symbolism of the Middle Cham- 
ber and the Winding Stair. "The Mason is ever to be 
in the search of truth, but is never to find it." "The 
Middle Chamber is symbolic of this life, where the 
truth is to be reached by approximation only, and yet 



where we are to learn that the truth will consist in a 
perfect knowledge of the G. A. 0. T. U. This is the 
reward of the inquiring Mason; in this consist the 
wages of a Fellowcraft; he is directed to the truth, 
but must travel further and ascend still higher to at- 
tain it." Surely we have here an acknowledgment of 
the utter weakness of man in spiritual things, and the 
profound fact is impressed upon us that symbolism 
can never lead a human being to the knowledge of the 
true God, nor to a sense of pardoned sin and a good 
hope of eternal life. After several thousand years of 
continual effort, bringing to their aid the light that 
was furnished by the symbolism of succeeding ages, 
the most laborious and enthusiastic and painstaking 
searchers declare it cannot be done. It occurs to me 
that this is a most important lesson of this hour. 
Make of Free-Masonry whatever you may be able as 
a useful adjunct in the business or pleasure of this 
present life, but never for a moment think of it as 
furnishing a clue to the mysteries of a God-like life 
here, or of fellowship with God in the life to come. 
Symbolism, even when exalted to the rank of a specu- 
lative philosophy, can never furnish a key by which to 
unlock the portals of the heavenly city. 

3. We need not be surprised at such an outcome 
of the effort to know God through the method of sym- 
bolism, for the knowledge of God is one of the mys- 
teries, we may say the chief mystery of the kingdom 
of heaven. So Paul wrote to Timothy: "Great is the 
mystery of godliness: God manifest in the flesh, justi- 
fied in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the 
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory." Thank God that He whom men vainly groped 
after through ages and generations was pleased in due 
time to manifest Himself in human form, and thus 
solve the mystery for every believing heart! The 
same God who in the beginning "Commanded the light 
to shine out of darkness, hath sinned in our hearts to 
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." "And we know that the 

10 



Son of God is come, and hath given us an understand- 
ing, that we may know Him that is true," This is the 
teaching of the Christian mysteries, the sum and sub- 
stance of it all, the possibility of the attainment of 
such knowledge of the true God, resulting from a per- 
sonal union with the Son as will lead to the life eternal 
beyond the grave. And so Paul says: "We have re- 
ceived, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which 
is of God, that we might know the things which are 
freely given to us of God." This, we submit, is the 
crowning excellence of the Christian mysteries over 
every form of speculative and philosophical thought, 
however abstract, or recondite, or beautiful in imagery 
or symbolism; that it compels none to be ever learn- 
ing and never able to come to a knowledge of the 
truth, but gives certain knowledge of Divine truth, 
such as will insure peace with God on earth, and the 
enjoyment of His presence in the world to come. And 
all this in the light of the Sun of righteousness that 
has risen upon the earth. 

4. Connected with the sublime mystery of the 
realization of God the Father in the face of his Son, 
Jesus Christ, there are several lesser mysteries. 

a. The mystery of the incarnation. How it could 
ever be that the Grand Architect of the Universe 
should take upon Himself a human form, be born of a 
virgin, cradled in a manger, subjected to all the vicisi- 
tudes of this earthly life, including the testing of His 
character, and the discipline of suffering, like any 
other man — this is indeed a mystery. But to the initi- 
ated to whom it has been given to know these mysteries 
of the kingdom, and who has realized the presence of 
his lord in temptation and affliction, and enjoyed 
mountain top experiences of blessing amidst transfigu- 
ration glories, there is a delightful reality in the in- 
carnation. It is far more than a dogma of a creed, it is 
the certain knowledge of a friend that sticketh closer 
than a brother, of one who was tempted in all points 
like as we are yet without sin, and who is therefore 
able to succor them that are tempted. As John de- 
ll 



clares with such positiveness : "That which was from 
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have 
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, 
and our hands have handled of the word of life (for 
the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear 
witness, and show unto you that eternal life which 
was with the Father, and was manifested unto us) 
that which we have seen and heard declare we unto 
you." 

b. The atonement is a mystery. We see the Man 
of Nazareth upon the accursed tree. We watch the 
gathering gloom till the black pall of night obscures 
the midday sun. We hear the lonely cry sent out of 
the darkness: "My God, my God, why hast Thou for 
saken me ?" By the returning light we see once more 
the play upon His features of an inward peace, and 
hear the words of surrender to the Father: "Into Thy 
hands I commend my spirit." And then a moment 
more of convulsive agony, and with an inarticulate 
shriek of anguish the Man dies of a broken heart. 
What awful mystery is this that in the death of this 
man there is a moral and spiritual significance suffi- 
cient to atone for the sins of the whole world! Yet 
this is the declaration of Holy Writ: "He is the pro- 
pitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also 
tor the sins of the whole world." "He became sin for 
us who knew no sin, that we might become the right- 
eousness of God in Him." Many have scouted the idea. 
To the self-righteous it has been a stumbling block, 
that there should be no other way of salvation but to 
acknowledge one's self a sinner undone, and rely solely 
upon the merits of the Crucified. To the worldly wise 
it has been foolishness — the very idea condemned 
itself to their superior wisdom. Nevertheless the gos- 
pel of the Son of God, with this fundamental idea of 
atonement by the blood, has ever remained the power 
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to 
the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For the moralist, 
and for the sophist as well, there is but the one way of 
salvation — by the blood of the Lamb. "In whom we 

12 



have redemption through His blood, even the forgive- 
ness of sins." 

c. The resurrection is a mystery. As a fact the 
resurrection of Christ rests upon as sure a historical 
basis as any other fact of history — unimpeachable tes- 
timony. He was seen of Mary Magdalene, of Peter the 
Apostle, of the two travelers to Emmaus, of the 
Twelve, then of above five hundred brethren at once, 
some of whom died soon after, but the greater part 
still living throughout the period of the Apostolic 
ministry. The first day of the week, observed for 2,000 
years throughout Christendom as the Lords' day is a 
monument enduring as the ages to the fact of the 
resurrection. Be assured that we celebrate no myth, 
or old wives fable on this Easter morning. "Christ 
is risen, and become the first fruits of them that slept. 
For since by man came death, by man came also 
the resurrection of the dead." His resurrection proved 
His ability to forgive sins, and our participation in the 
merits of the atoning sacrifice insure our participa- 
tion in the resurrection glory, that where He is His 
redeemed may be also. 

"The early morn has reached the sky ; 
The Lord has risen with victory; 
Let earth be glad, and raise the cry ; 
Alleluia. 

The Prince of Life with death has striven; 
To cleanse the earth His blood was given ; 
Has rent the veil, and opened heaven ; 
Alleluia. 

And he, dear Lord, that with Thee dies, 
And fleshly passions crucifies, 
In body, like to Thine, shall rise ; 
Alleluia." 

It is a great mystery, no doubt, but those who 
have realized the resurrection power in their own lives 
will ever treasure it in their hearts as a blessed reality. 

13 



d. Identification with God is a mystery. By these 
successive stages I have come to the words of Christ 
announced as a text: "I in them and thou in Me." The 
transformation of human character into the divine na- 
ture. Not loss of personality, not absorption into 
Deity, not extinction of being, not annihilation, not the 
calm repose of eternal unconsciousness, not the un- 
thinkable condition which the Budhist calls Nirvana, 
which is neither death nor life. But life, quivering, 
sentient life, eternal life. Conscious personality, 
throbbing with an intensity of divine life constantly 
inflowing. The initiation into the heavenly mysteries 
in regeneration but the earthly beginning of a heaven- 
ly condition of character which will ultimate in heaven- 
ly residence with the pure and holy. They tell us that 
if two pianos, keyed to the same pitch, be placed in op- 
posite ends of a large room, a chord struck upon one 
instrument will vibrate upon the other. It is the re- 
sult of being in perfect accord. So if a human heart 
be keyed to the divine pitch an emanation of heavenly 
harmony will find its response in the earthly vibra- 
tions. The human relationship suggested by these 
mystic words, "I in them and thou in Me," Brings 
heaven to earth, and makes entrance into heaven pos- 
sible to the denizens of earth. In Pauls' letter to the 
Colossians, a document designed to correct the errors 
of the Gnosticism of that day, he says of Jesus Christ : 
"It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness 
dwell ; and having made peace by the blood of His cross, 
by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, I 
say, whether they be things in earth, or things in 
heaven. And you, that were sometimes alienated and 
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath 
He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, 
to present you holy and unblameable and unreprov- 
able in His sight." 

Of similar import are his words to the Ephesians : 
"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that 
ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to 
comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and 

14 



length, and depth, and height, and to know the love 
of God which passeth knowledge, that ye might be 
filled with all the fulness of God." I am glad to believe 
that some of you, like Judge McNemer, have come 
to understand, by a personal initiation into the Chris- 
tian Mysteries, that there is an acquaintance with God 
which surpasses the knowledge which the teachings 
of symbolism can give; and by faith you have appre- 
hended that love for a personal Christ, who died for 
our sins and rose for our justification which will even- 
tuate in our being filled with all the fulness of God. 
Oh, the limitless measure of this sublime truth, "I in 
them and thou in me!" It brings a peace to human 
hearts that passeth all understanding, a joy that is 
unspeakable and full of glory. And this is life eter- 
nal, that they might know thee the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 

I come now to my closing thought — a surpassing 
fellowship. I can easily believe that the Masonic tie 
is a very strong one. Blue, the color of the vault of 
heaven, which embraces and covers the whole globe, 
the symbol of universal friendship and benevolence 
is preeminently your color. I understand that at a very 
early period in the course of initiation a candidate is 
informed that one of the great tenets of the Order is 
brotherly love. I think it is your boast that two men 
meeting anywhere, the wide world over, however di- 
verse in language or condition in life, and though 
thrown together for the first time in life, yet the rec- 
ognition of each other as Masons is enough to bind 
them together in closest friendship. But, however de- 
lightful such a fellowship may be, and however strong 
the mystic tie which binds the Masonic Brotherhood 
together, yet the text suggests a fellowship more ten- 
der, more binding and more enduring. Your Mys- 
teries assure us that after the True Word was lost, 
a substitute has been adopted, though you may 
never hope to find it in this life. The Christian Mys- 
teries instruct you that the True Word was lost, and 
in the fulness of times it became flesh, and dwelt 

15 



among us, God incarnate ;and we beheld His glory, 
ns of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth. And moreover that Christian fellowship is 
based upon mutual resemblances in each other to the 
Grand Architect of the Universe, obtained through 
personal friendship with Him who is the Way, the 
Truth and the Life. "And truly our fellowship is with 
the Father and with His son, Jesus Christ/' And so 
the Word, lost but found, prays thus for his disciples : 
"I in them, and thou in me, that they may be per- 
fected into one." Wherever I discover in human char- 
acter the lineaments of the divine, not in ruin but in 
process of restoration, I know that I shall find a 
brother in Christ Jesus. And I know further, that He 
which hath begun a good work in any human heart 
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, and so 
I am sure that the fellowship, so blessed even in its 
imperfect condition here shall be glorious beyond all 
our thought when perfected in the life to come. This 
is the substance of the Mysteries of the kingdom of 
heaven. Knowledge of God, likeness to God, oneness 
with God ; and by consequence fellowship with one an- 
other, both here and in a future state of existence. 
Seeing Him as He is, the obscuration of our spiritual 
vision all removed, we shall come into absolute like- 
ness to our living Lord. His will done in us, and our 
fellowship with him complete, we shall wake to the 
consciousness that we are all one in Christ Jesus. 

"One family, we dwell in Him, 

One Church, above, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream, 

The narrow stream of death. 
One army of the living God, 

To his command we bow; 
Part of the host have crossed the flood, 

And part are crossing now. 

16 



E'en now to their eternal home 

Some happy spirits fly; 
And we are to the margin come, 

And we expect to die. 
Lord Jesus, be our constant Guide: 

And when the word is given 
Bid death's cold flood its waves divide, 

And bring us safe to heaven." 



. 



17 



THE PILGRIMS' SABBATH. 

Who has not read with keenest relish the story 
of The Cotter's Saturday Night by the Scotch bard. 
How realistic the description! The father returning 
from his toil, laden with his tools, and thinking of the 
morrow's rest. The glee of the children as he nears 
his humble home. The gathering of the older chil- 
dren from their various places of labor, and the pleas- 
ant chit chat about the homely hearth. The eldest 
daughter, Jennie, and her lover. The frugal evening 
meal, followed by the quiet hour of family worship of 
mingled song and scripture and prayer. Then the out- 
going of the older ones, and the bed-going of the lit- 
tle ones, and the parents' secret prayer for the well- 
being of all. What a picture of reverent recognition 
of God, linked with devotional happiness and peace! 
What a preparation for the Sabbath rest and service! 
No wonder the poet exclaims : 

"From scenes like this old Scotia's grandeur springs, 
That makes her loved at home, revered abroad." 

While the Pilgrim Fathers did not come from Scot- 
land, yet the essential features of the Scottish rever- 
ence for the day were clearly manifest in the life of 
the American colonies. Indeed, it was according to 
English canonical law that the observance of the sacred 
day should be from evening to evening, and the civil 
law indicated the privileges and restrictions of the 
day itself. For instance, we find according to old Eng- 
lish law, that any place opened or used for public enter- 
tainment and amusement upon any part of the Lord's 
day, called Sunday, to which persons are admitted by 
payment of money, or by tickets sold for money, is to 
be deemed a disorderly house. The keeper of the 
house is to pay a fine of $972 for every such 

18 



offense, the manager of the entertainment $486, and 
every servant or doorkeeper $243. These were the 
ideas of Sabbath observance which the Pilgrims 
brought with them to their new home. Ideas not 
grafted upon, but ingrained into the very fibre of their 
being. A New England colony without a Puritan Sab- 
bath would have been a historical impossibility. A 
great many stories have come down to us illustrative 
of their peculiar notions in this regard. Some of these 
stories may be apocryphal, but they show the preval- 
ent spirit and temper of the times in regard to the 
sacredness of the Lord's day from even to even. 

"New England's Sabbath day 

Is heaven-like and pure, 
When Israel walks the way 

Up to the temple's door." 

According to the famous Blue Laws of Connec- 
ticut : 

"No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, 
sweep house, cut hair or shave on the Sabbath." 

"No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath." 

"No one shall ride on the Sabbath day, or walk in 
his garden or elsewhere except reverently to and from 
meeting." 

Now while we are well assured that these particu- 
lar laws are mythical, yet there is abundant proof in 
the records of the courts that the spirit of these laws 
was widely dominant. Men were actually arrested and 
fined for fishing on the Sabbath, and for sailing a boat. 
One was sharply whipped for hunting. Another was 
fined for carrying home his grist from the mill, and 
the miller also for permitting him to do it. A woman 
was fined for washing and a man was put in the stocks 
for attending to his tar pits. Another was publicly 
reproved for writing a common business note on the 
Lord's day, 'at least in the evening, somewhat too 
soon.' One loving couple was arrested and tried for 

19 



the heinous offense of sitting together on the Lord's 
day under an apple tree in the orchard. A man ar- 
rived at home one Sunday morning from a three years' 
absence, and when he met his wife upon the threshold 
of his own home, he kissed her. For this unseemly 
behavior he was sentenced to the stocks for two hours. 
A young man appearing to be on a journey on the 
Lord's day was arrested as he passed through a cer- 
tain village. He excused himself by the assertion that 
his aunt lay dead in the next town. Upon this he was 
allowed to proceed. He explained afterwards to friends 
that she had been lying dead there for a great num- 
ber of years. The instances are almost numberless 
which illustrate the vigorous sanctity with which the 
day was observed. Tradition has it that a Sabbath 
intervened while the Pilgrims were landing, during 
which sacred time they decorously waited and rested 
from their labors, completing the unloading of the 
ship on the Monday following. We can easily believe 
that this might have happened, it is so consistent with 
the Puritan character. 

Not only by the laying aside of worldly employ- 
ments and cares was the day observed. There was 
the positive as well as the negative side of the law. 
It laid upon the people its demands as well as its pro- 
hibitions. Only the best of reasons could excuse a 
man from attendance upon the services of the sanc- 
tuary. We read of one poor luckless wight who was 
so unfortunate as to fall into the water late on Satur- 
day night, and as he had no other suit, and could not 
light a fire to dry his clothes, he lay in bed during the 
Lord's day to keep warm. For such slothfulness he 
was sentenced to be publicly whipped. The tithing 
man, found in every New England community, was 
unwearied in his efforts to get men to church, and to 
keep them awake when there. And to the credit of 
the people be it said that for the most part they loved 
to go. There was no such luxury as a fire in the house 
of God in those days. Neither was there the fashion- 
able choir and the half-hour sermon. Nevertheless 

20 



through the icy cold of winter and the scorching heat 
of summer, from their distant homes they came, to 
sit patiently through the long services of the morn- 
ing and the afternoon. 

But why dwell longer upon the method of observ- 
ance of the Pilgrim Sabbath. After all that can be 
said those requirements of the old Puritan life, 
whether prohibitive or mandatory, were only the out- 
ward manifestations of the inward character. Coming 
from a rugged stock, in a rude age, and gathering in 
the inhospitable clime of New England, to work out 
the two tremendous problems of self-government and 
religious liberty: before we deride them for their 
follies it might be well to imagine whether the degen- 
erate sons of these noble sires would do any better 
under like circumstances. Our forefathers believed in 
God, and they believed in the devil, and they believed 
in the imminence of these two spiritual beings in hu- 
man life. There doubtless were crudities and excres- 
cences connected with their faith, and those led to 
blemishes in their corporate and social life. Admit 
it. Yet the aim of these austere men was to obey the 
law of God, and to overthrow the works of the devil. 
They believed in righteousness with all their heart, 
and that the inhabitants of earth should worship and 
serve the Lord of heaven; and if there was a little 
more of Sinai than of Calvary in the working out of 
their creed it was due to the age in which they lived. 
They believed that the fear of God is the beginning 
of wisdom, and that man should stand in awe before 
his Maker. They believed that God meant what he 
said when he gave the command, "Remember the Sab- 
bath day to keep it holy." We admit that we have 
become more liberal, and in some things more humane, 
and that in our day we have better learned the lesson 
of liberty of conscience. The horrors of the Salem 
witchcraft history would be impossible to repeat in 
the light of the present century. People are not now 
driven to church, and kept from work or worldly pleas- 
ure. We admit that the Pilgrims imposed on others 

21 



the very same hateful restrictions on account of which 
they themselves fled from the mother country. Never- 
theless, is it all gain since that day ? Have we in every 
instance made progress in the essentials of character? 
We smile at the idea of a witch, we have outgrown 
that childish notion. Perhaps we have also outgrown 
the revealed truth that there is a spirit that now 
worketh in the children of disobedience. It is to be 
feared that in the faith of too many the devil, as well 
as the witch is a back number. We smile at their 
austerities in connection with Sabbath observance, but, 
discarding the excrescences, haven't we also been dis- 
carding the day itself. Our forefathers were not out 
from under the spell of one Sabbath day before they 
began to feel the influence of the one approaching; 
and thus the Lord's day was the altar where was kept 
alive the reverence for God and for his law which 
burned with such intensity in their everyday life, and 
had so much to do with developing that simplicity and 
sturdy righteousness for which they were noted. We 
are wiser today. We esteem every day alike. The only 
distinction now is that Sunday is more given up to 
pleasure than any other day. If men are not at work 
they are at liberty to enjoy the day as pleases them 
best. 

But after all is it altogether better than it used to 
be? Is the European Sabbath with its open saloons and 
beer gardens and carousings; its theatrical perform- 
ances and so-called sacred concerts ; its base ball games 
and card parties ; its Sunday blanket sheet newspapers, 
and pleasure trips and general indifference to sacred 
things an improvement on the Puritan Sabbath ? Are 
we likely to develop a sturdier manliness of character, 
or root more firmly the principles of reverence for God 
and fealty to his laws? How is it? Sometimes I can- 
not help feeling that we are in great danger of consider- 
ing God a back number, and reverence for his character 
and laws an obsolete notion. Sometimes I really long 
for something of the quiet restfulness and the blessed 
helpfulness of the Pilgrim Sabbath. Am I wrong? 

22 



. THINGS TOUCHING THE KING 

A Summer Meditation on the Forty-Fifth Psalm 

The forty-fifth Psalm is a marvelous description of 
the sweet singer's intense love for the Beloved and 
His bride: Christ and His church. "My heart is in- 
diting a good matter; I speak of the things which I 
have made touching the king. My tongue is the pen 
of a ready writer." The verses are not put together 
as the result of studied effort with mathematical pre- 
cision, but are forged in the white heat of a holy pas- 
sion. His theme develops quickly and beautifully, like 
the morning-glory in the early dawn. His words are 
strong as the cedar, and fragrant as the honeysuckle. 
His picture of the kingly Christ is the portrait of a 
Master and as many sided as the views of a kaleide- 
scope. 

In the second verse he reveals to us the Christ as a 
superior type of manhood. "Thou art fairer than the 
children of men; grace is poured into thy lips; there- 
fore God hath blessed thee forever." The humanity of 
the Christ is a most delightful theme of contemplation. 
He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, a man of 
sorrows and acquainted with grief, able to succor in the 
hour of temptation because He Himself has felt the 
force of the tempter's power. The man Christ Jesus is 
compassed with infirmity, has a heart big enough to 
feel for us, a mind wise enough to plan and an arm 
strong enough to save. Leading a life of practical 
righteousness, which was the outflowing of a pious 
heart, His will in harmony with the divine; a man 
among men actually fulfilling the ends of His exist- 
ence, He thus becomes the great exemplar for the race. 
In our recoil from Arian heresy let us not run in the 
other direction and lose sight of some of the leading 

23 



charms of our Beloved as the redeemer of men. He 
was human as truly as He was divine ; and being human 
He was possessed of human attributes and endow- 
ments, and all these to a super-eminent degree. Grace 
was poured into His lips; He was fairer than any of 
His fellows, blessed of Jehovah forever for His loyalty 
and His devotion. Cherish in your memory this pic- 
ture of Christ, the man. The Psalmist enables me to 
see my Beloved as a man, and yet fairer than the sons 
of men. "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, Most 
Mighty, with thy glory and Thy majesty. And in Thy 
majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meek- 
ness and righteousness ; and Thy right hand shall teach 
Thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the 
heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall 
under Thee." A man still, approachable, kind, sympa- 
thetic, reciprocating the heartiest affection, and at the 
same time a mighty man of valor, going forth to war 
against His enemies. His armor invincible, His sword 
upon His thigh, His arrows in the quiver, riding in His 
glorious chariot of war. The scene is vividly oriental. 
He engages in the conflict, He shoots His arrows, He 
wields His sword, He wins the field, the vanquished 
foes yield to His prowess. We have here pictured, not 
a single battle, not even a protracted campaign, but a 
long and bloody war; a swiftly changing, well defined 
panoramic picture of the progress and completion of 
the Messianic reign. Somewhere in this part of the 
picture every Christian has his place among the allied 
forces of the King of righteousness. Perhaps upon en- 
listment we thought we were out only for a morning's 
diversion in the way of fighting, to be followed by a 
bright holiday of dress parade. But long since we 
learned the temper and endurance of our foes, and 
realized that only after severest struggles will the 
enemy surrender. There is no release in this war, and 
no furlough nor respite till the final victory is sounded, 
and the soldiers of Immanuel go marching home. 

And now the scene changes, and we are rapidly 
transported from the earthly to the heavenly estate; 

24 



from the grim horrors of an awful war to the glorious 
surroundings of a kingly reign of peace. "Thy throne, 
God, is forever and ever, the sceptre of Thy kingdom 
is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and 
hatest wickedness; therefore God, even thy God, hath 
annointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy 
fellows. All Thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes 
and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have 
made Thee glad. King's daughters were among Thy 
honorable women. Upon Thy right hand did stand 
the queen in gold of Ophir." Here shines forth the 
divinity of the Christ and we recall the description of 
the prophet: "He shall be called Wonderful, Counsel- 
lor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace.' ' Thus we behold our Beloved, the man 
Christ Jesus, the valorous soldier, the mighty conquer- 
or, the king, God manifest in the flesh. Cleansed from 
the dust and grime of battle, arrayed in the garments 
of peaceful royalty, we see the King in His beauty and 
rejoice in the splendors of His reign. The picture 
presents the regal magnificence of an eastern court. 
The King is the centre of attraction. He is anointed 
with the oil of gladness, His person radiates charms 
ineffable, delicious perfumes fill the air, and a glorious 
retinue attends Him. The queen, in gold of Ophir 
stands by His side. He casts upon her the love glance 
of purest devotion. His lips part in words of truest 
eulogy: "Hearken, daughter, and consider and lend 
thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy 
father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy 
beauty; for He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him. 
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; 
even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. 
The King's daughter is all glorious within; her cloth- 
ing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the 
King in raiment of needle Work ; the virgins, her com- 
panions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; 
they shall enter into the King's palace." Wonderful 
transformation! The Captain of our salvation has 

25 



become the King of glory ; the army of the living God 
has become the bride of heaven. The trappings and 
insignia of war have been changed for peaceful habil- 
iments and regal splendors. The foe has been van- 
quished and Zion is free. 

As we dwell upon the vision it comes to us with 
wondrous tenderness and power that every sharer in 
the earthly strife, under the banner of our Prince, 
shall be a participant in the heavenly glory, when the 
shouts of war shall have given place to the hallelujahs 
of peace. Somewhere in the royal palace, in the com- 
posite picture that represents the Bride, the Lamb's 
wife, you and I shall have a place. 

Has this study of the psalmist's words been largely 
imaginative? I remember that the words themselves 
are a poem, and not a treatise; and this study makes 
no pretension to being anything more than a summer 
meditation; a reverie, if you will. But all the same, 
this panoramic vision excites within me the spirit of 
worship, and rouses the sentiment of love, and 
quickens my joy, and brightens my hope, and 
strengthens my faith. If it does as much for anyone 
who may chance to read these words I shall be amply 
repaid. 



26 



OUR DENOMINATIONAL MISSION 

Jude. 3. "Beloved, while I was giving all diligence 
to write unto you of our common salvation, I was con- 
strained to write unto you, exhorting you to contend 
earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered 
unto the Saints." 

I. The Faith and Its Appropriate Symbol. 

The first proposition to which I wish to call your 
attention is the fact that already, perhaps not more 
than thirty years subsequent to the ascension of Christ, 
there was a body of spiritual truth clearly outlined and 
designated as the faith, or the common salvation; 
and that this faith had for its outward body or symbol 
the ordinance of baptism. Jude was living in the 
midst of troublous times. The newly finished Temple, 
the type of the spiritual building, awaits its destruc- 
tion by the Roman armies. James, the son of Zebedee 
had long since died by the sword, and James, the 
brother of our Lord has also fallen a martyr to the 
truth. The final revolt of the Jews has broken out, 
and an exterminating war is in progress. In addition 
to these stirring events in the outside world in which 
the disciples of Jesus were acting their part, the 
church itself was in a ferment. False teachers had 
already risen, bringing in dangerous heresies which 
were resulting in great corruption of life. The loyal 
heart of this faithful servant of Jesus Christ is greatly 
stirred as he contemplates the situation in which he is 
placed. At first he is strongly inclined to prepare an 
extended treatise, elaborating into a system, the es- 
sential teachings of Christianity. But as he muses, 
the fire within him rages more fiercely, and he cannot 
content himself with didactic deliverances. There is 
war, spiritual as well as physical, and the soldier of 

27 



the Cross must be in the thick of the fight. He there- 
fore changes his purpose, defers the elaboration of 
system to some quieter period of life, if such shall 
ever come to him, and betakes himself now to a call 
to arms, urging every loving subject of Prince Im- 
manuel to enter the lists, and contend earnestly for the 
faith, the common salvation, which had once for all 
been delivered unto them. I take it that "the faith" 
and "the common salvation" are essentially the same 
thing in the mind of Jude. The change in his thought 
is from the mere elucidation of the faith to its vigor- 
ous defence. The common salvation, the faith, the es- 
sential principles of the g;ospel of Christ, had been 
once for all, in their simplicity and power, their fulness 
and completeness, handed down to the saints by holy 
men of God who spoke as they were moved by the 
Holy Spirit. Even thus early in its history it had 
become fixed in all its essential characteristics, a body 
of truth instinct with life, and unchangeable in sub- 
stance. Some day, this faith may be analyzed, and its 
various parts logically considered, but now is the time 
for action in its behalf. Already is the spirit of laxity 
manifest. Insidious inroads on the faith are making 
frightful havoc in the church. As another has describ- 
ed this early period of church history: "A strong dis- 
like has grown up in the minds of many educated and 
thinking men for all dogmatic teaching; a strong ten- 
dency discovers itself in them to accept nothing in 
Christianity but the spirit of love and philanthropy, 
and to apply to all its doctrines those supposed solvents 
of which infidelity has always had in her infernal 
laboratory a sufficient store." "Let the doctrines fare 
as they may" is the cry ; 'let them gradually disappear 
under the objections of the skeptic ; all that we care 
to retain is the spirit which they embody and repre- 
sent/ " This cry, so early raised, against the stric- 
tures of doctrines, and in favor of a maudlin sentiment, 
a cry which would make shipwreck of faith, and lead to 
corruption of life, roused within Jude the martial spirit 
to the utmost, and changed his purpose from quiet 

28 



persuasion to active contention. Sharp and telling as 
trie crack of a rifle, incisive and cutting as a damascus 
blade is the message which flashes from his pen from 
his hot heart. 

I have spoken of the common salvation, the faith 
mentioned by Jude as a body of spiritual truth, fully 
formed and complete, once for all delivered, and never 
to be changed in any essential particular. But it is a 
spiritual body, and in order to its easier apprehension 
and acceptance among men it was given an outward 
form or body, which could be seen by the physical 
eye, and by means of which the mind could grasp the 
spiritual reality. I call your attention to the inspired 
interpretation of the significance of baptism as given 
in the sixth chapter of Romans. The latter part of 
the seventeenth verse is especially significant, wherein 
the apostle speaks directly of baptism as being that 
form or pattern of doctrine whereunto the Christians 
of Rome had been delivered. Note carefully the dif- 
ference in phraseology between Jude and Paul. The 
one speaks of the faith delivered to the saints, the 
other of the form of doctrine unto which they were 
aeli\ered. Dr. J. B. Thomas, in his Mould of Doctrine, 
brings out this thought with wonderful clearness and 
force. The one speaks of a body of truth, the other 
of an outward form or pattern or symbol of that truth. 
The one is delivered to the people, unto the other the 
people who accept the truth are delivered. In the ex- 
pression, form of doctrine, Paul evidently has in mind 
the ordinance of baptism to which he has made such 
abundant reference in the early part of the chapter. 
And he gives us the impression that baptism is a form 
of doctrine in the same sense that the mould or pattern 
in the foundry is the form of that which is cast there- 
in. As Baptists we insist upon immersion as the out- 
ward form of baptism because it is the only form 
which is the mould or pattern, type or symbol of the 
doctrine intended to be taught by it. And then we 
emphasize the fact that the doctrine is greater than its 
mould; that the thing signified is of more value than 

29 



the sign, that the realization is more essential than the 
type. Making free use of Dr. Thomas' thought I wish 
just here to make as plain as possible three points: 

First, that, historically considered, baptism is the 
memorial of the dominant fact of Christianity — -our 
Lord's resurrection. 

Second, symbolically, that baptism is the figure of 
the dominant idea of Christianity — the new birth. 

Third, that baptism is the faithful exponent and 
enforcer of the dominant principle of Christianity — 
the surrender of the whole man through faith. This 
last may need a little enlargement, that we may catch 
the thought more readily. The mould fixes its char- 
acteristics upon all its fabrics. The constant idea 
throughout is that of permanent and verifiable coinci- 
dence of outline between counterparts. If you ordered 
the casting of a trunk key, you would not expect in 
return a key for the front door of your house. The 
form must be appropriate to the design. Now, in our 
common faith there is the doctrine of death to sin. 
This means: 

(a) The abandonment of all life communion with 
sin. 

(b) The destruction of the body as the instrument 
of sin. 

(c) Release from the grasp and controlling power 
of sin. 

We have also the doctrine of life with Christ. This 
means : 

(a) The positive and active side of the moral being 
and nature in fellowship with righteousness. 

(b) The members of the body presented to God as 
the instruments of righteousness. 

(c) Glad submission to the controlling power of 
Jesus Christ. 

It thus becomes evident that the ideal of Christian 
living involves dying absolutely to the old life as the 
new life in Christ makes itself felt. Not that we at 
once attain but this is the ideal, the goal toward which 

30 



we strive. Paul emphasizes the unsuitableness of the 
dominion of sin to the communion of death and life 
with Christ. The principles involved in the transaction 
by which the soul dead in Christ becomes a new crea- 
ture in Christ is thus seen to be that of a total sur- 
render to Jesus Christ, which is the dominant principle 
of Christianity. As Baptists, I repeat, we emphasize 
immersion as the outward act of baptism, because by 
the appointment of our living Head it is the mould of 
doctrine — the great symbol of the resurrection life. 
If you remember, Christ Himself spoke of baptism in 
the very same sense in which Paul used it, as a mould 
or pattern of doctrine: "The baptism of John, whence 
is it, from heaven or of men?" It is evident that bap- 
tism is here intended to include more than the mere 
labor of John in immersing those who came to him. 
The outward form was but the mould ,the symbol of 
the divine doctrines which he taught. 

From the ground thus covered we readily see that the 
supreme question is not of much or little water, or of 
convenience in the administration of a mere outward 
ceremony. It is rather a question of doctrine, and of 
the life required by the doctrine. A regenerate life is 
the great contention of our common salvation, the faith 
once for all delivered to the saints. If we are true to 
our profession, therefore, as Baptists, we should be the 
most consecrated people on the face of the earth. 
Within our own ranks I fear there has been altogether 
too much clamor for the sign, and too little struggle for 
the thing signified. In the expressive language of com- 
mercial life it is high time for us to deliver the goods 
of an exemplification of the Christ life, or take down 
our boasted sign of a significant symbol. 

IT. The Doctrine of the Kingdom and the Development 
of That Doctrine Into a Church. 

Within the scope of the faith delivered to the saints 
we find the doctrine of a spiritual kingdom. Using 
freely the thought of Dr. Mullins, as I have previously 
used the thought of Dr. Thomas, we find : 

31 



(a) That the doctrine of the kingdom of 
God brings to us a personal as distinguished from a 
positive religion. Primarily, a religion is a relation 
between persons— God and man. The method of all 
legal religions is that of the command and the prohi- 
bition. Christianity, as a personal religion, begins 
with faith. Its method of growth is fellowship with 
God, entering into his plans, grasping his aims. 

(b) That this religion of the kingdom puts large 
emphasis upon the Fatherhood of God. Those in the 
kingdom call God Father, and those who call God 
Father, are swayed and moulded by the laws which 
are the essence of the kingdom. It is love plus obed- 
ience to law. 

(c) That the religion of the kingdom involves the 
fact of a revelation from God. Revelation implies the 
kinship between God and man, that God can communi- 
cate and man can receive messages. 

(d) That in this religion of the kingdom Christ is 
the medium of revelation and redemption. The soul 
cannot thrive on abstract notions about God. Christ 
made the idea of God concrete, and the Scriptures en- 
able us to maintain contact with the Christ of history. 
These records are the sheet anchor of Christian ex- 
perience and Christian theology. 

Keeping clearly in mind these characteristics of the 
kingdom, we see that the organization of a church is 
a logical necessity. The Word, made flesh, and dwell- 
ing among men ignorant of God, reveals at once the 
righteousness of the Holy one, and the great heart of 
the loving Father ; and by His vicarious sufferings and 
death makes atonement possible. Then the heralds of 
the Word are sent forth with the glad tidings and men 
and women hear and heed and live. The dead thus 
made alive through faith, each for himself exercising 
a personal faith in a personal Redeemer, become 
mutually partakers of a common life in Christ Jesus. 
They share a common experience of penitence, 
pardon, peace and fellowship with God. They 

32 



have severally become partakers of the divine nature, 
and entered into fellowship with God. By virtue 
of the law of spiritual affinity, these regenerate 
souls who through faith have entered into the 
kingdom of God, and into loving fellowship with 
the Sovereign of that kingdom, also enter into fel- 
lowship with one another, and are all one in Christ 
Jesus. Thus, is the prayer of the Savior fulfilled 
for the essential unity of His people. It is a moral 
impossibility to be at one with Christ and at the same 
time to be really at outs with one another. By this 
coming together of those of common faith and spirit 
and purpose the church is formed. It is no accident, 
no afterthought of God, no mere contrivance of men. 
It is a natural and necessary evolution of the princi- 
ples of the kingdom in active operation among men, 
and must therefore, bear the marks of that kingdom 
in all its essential features. The kingdom precedes 
the church, and the laws and ideals of the kingdom 
give form to the church. The local church is like a 
leaf on the tree of the kingdom of God. As such it 
must reproduce in its own measure the outlines of the 
kingdom. The church is a divine contrivance for real- 
izing the ends of the kingdom of God. Paul illustrated 
the essential unity of the church, together with its 
manifest diversity, by the analogous conditions in the 
human body. Many members, but one body. Each 
member severally fulfilling its own office, and yet all 
mutually under the control of the Spirit within, and 
furthering the common interest of all. Following the 
preaching of the kingdom by the apostles and their 
colaborers, under the guidance of the Spirit, churches 
made after this pattern sprang up everywhere. In 
Palestine, in Syria, in Asia Minor, in Macedonia, in 
Greece, in Italy were found bodies of disciples, the 
outward manifestation of the kingdom of God; men 
and women possessed of the same essential character- 
istics, actuated by the same spirit, inspired by the 
same hope, and leading a common life of self-sacrifice 
and loving devotion to the good of others. 

33 



III.-— Corruption in the Church, and the Rise of De- 
nominations. 

These churches, drawn together by the law of 
spiritual affinity, and rejoicing in a common salva- 
tion, and defending a common faith, and partakers 
of a common life, and subjects of a common Lord, 
needed no other name than that of Christians to 
designate their place and character among men. 
They were so vitally related to each other as the ex- 
emplars of Christianity, and so differentiated in char- 
acter from upholders of Judaism on the one hand and 
of heathenism on the other, that to be known as Chris- 
tian was all sufficient. The evident design of a name 
is to designate, and when the followers of Christ be- 
came numerous enough to form a class, and were seen 
to be neither Jewish nor heathen, they were called 
Christians. But it was not long before the single con- 
ception of the kingdom of God as first held was 
changed. Other and alien elements entered into the 
thought of the people. The frailties and weaknesses, 
the ambitions and prejudices of our fallen human na- 
ture became manifest. The simplicity that was in 
Christ was lost sight of, and the desire for display, 
and preeminence, and self-glorification became promi- 
nent. As God's ancient people grew restive under a 
theocratic form of government, and desired a king 
like the nations round about them ; so Christians grew 
weary of the invisible headship of Christ, and craved 
a ruler whom they could see, like the adherents of 
other faiths. Then, too, what Dr. Mullins terms the 
competency of the soul in religion was lost sight of. 
That idea excludes at once all human interference 
such as episcopacy, and infant baptism ,and every 
form of religion by proxy: and includes the doctrine 
of the separation of church and state, and leads di- 
rectly to democracy in church life and the priesthood 
of all believers. But these principles are repugnant 
to the carnal mind. It is so much pleasanter to think 
that our doing has a part of the merit of our salvation. 

34 



So justification by faith was surrendered, and bap- 
tismal regeneration was accepted, and the mystic 
power of the priest was admitted, and then his author- 
ity was recognized. And so, little by little, the depar- 
ture from the faith was effected, until a man occupy- 
ing the papal throne claimed to be the vicar of Jesus 
Christ, and his rule became absolute over church and 
state. For 1,200 years the church groaned under the 
tyranny of this despotism, ground beneath the iron 
heel of a blasphemous usurpation. While here and 
there were found little companies of people who would 
not surrender their personal rights in religion, nor for 
a moment bow the knee to Baal. Like the faithful 
ones of the olden times they were tortured, and mocked 
and scourged, and bound and imprisoned; they were 
stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, 
they were slain with the sword; they went about in 
sheep skins and goat skins: being destitute, afflicted, 
ill-treated, (of whom the world was not worthy) wan- 
dering in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and the 
holes of the earth, and still they remained loyal to 
Jesus Christ, and never became a part of the apostate 
church of Rome. Known from time to time by one ap- 
probrious name and then by another, they were never- 
theless the true successors of the apostles, and main- 
tained through all the Dark Ages the germs of the 
early faith. And when the light of the Reformation 
dispelled the awful shadows, and Luther rejoiced in 
justification by faith, without the intervention of 
priest or penance: these faithful watchers of the night 
were found with the fires brightly burning upon their 
altars of devotion, and the sword of the Spirit bravely 
drawn in defense of the faith once for all delivered 
-o the saints. They had laid no stress on the doctrine 
of apostolic or of church succession, they had never 
heard of alien baptism as we use the term, they were 
doubtless guilty of many crudities of thought, and 
many fanciful interpretations of scripture, and many 
excrescences of conduct ; and yet through all the awful 
gloom of the eclipse of faith through priestly domina- 



tion their light shone steadily on, the only true ex- 
ponent of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the lurid glare 
of the fires of persecution can be traced the scarlet 
thread of the martyr's blood, back to the days of the 
apostles. And when the new day dawned they were 
not protestants more than they had ever been, for 
they had never been within the pale of the Romish 
church. Brethren of the Baptist name, behold here at 
once your ancestry and your heritage. We are not 
come-outers from Rome, we are not protestants, we are 
not descendants of the apostles by priestly line or 
church succession: we are simply of the number of 
those to be found in every age loyal to the truth as 
it is in Jesus, and ready to contend earnestly for the 
faith once for all delivered to the saints. 

On the morning of the Reformation the old ship 
of an apostate church was discovered floundering 
among the breakers, to the imminent peril of all on 
board. At last, however, she righted herself in a meas- 
ure, though in a badly disabled condition, and again 
put out to sea. But many of her passengers, having 
no further confidence in her sea-worthiness, preferred 
to trust themselves to the waves, and some on boards, 
and some on broken pieces of the ship came safe to 
land. Grouped together they were known, in a general 
way, as protestants: people who had in the main dis- 
carded the Roman Catholic church with her errors 
and her sins. And yet they had not completely re- 
turned to the simplicity of the gospel, and to the funda- 
mental ideas of the kingdom of God. It is not easy at 
once to surrender the teaching of centuries, and the 
cherished associations of a lifetime. The Renaisance, 
co-incident with the Reformation, dazzled and bewild- 
ered for a time rather than enlightened. It was not 
easy to adjust themselves to their new conditions, and 
the rise of denominationalism, humanly speaking, was 
an inevitable result. Christians all, and yet without 
any church affiliations, and with conflicting views on 
many points, according to the degree of their breaking 
with Rome, and the influence of the revival of learn- 

36 



ing upon their minds, they speedily drifted apart, and 
began to crystalize about new centers, as their in- 
dividual ideas of the kingdom of God took shape. For, 
as we have seen, the church is but the embodiment 
of these ideas. Those who accepted the doctrine of 
justification by faith, and yet clung to infant baptism 
and other papal errors stood with Luther and soon 
became known as Lutherans. Those who continued 
to believe in the episcopacy, and the stately forms of 
a ritual service, only rejecting the more arbitrary dic- 
tation of the priesthood, readily grouped themselves 
together, and the Protestant Episcopal church was the 
result. And with the passing of the years, as other 
important ideas came to earnest thinking men as a 
new discovery, these ideas became the centers for still 
other church organizations. And as these new organ- 
izations sprung up among Christians, names to desig- 
nate them became necessary. The term Christian was 
common to all who recognized the divinity of Jesus 
Christ, and were seeking to follow Him; but each of 
the denominations, for the sake of convenience, must 
have a specific designation. The gens carnivora is 
one, but one famliy of that gens may be the 
blood-thirsty prowlers of the jungle, and another 
family the quiet pets of the household: and 
I would like to be able to distinguish be- 
tween the tiger and the cat. There is nothing 
sacred in a name but the associations, and the denomi- 
nation with the most sacred associations will have the 
name that is most revered. 

IV. The Modern Revival of Learning, and the 

Present Peril. 

The Renaisance of the latter part of the fifteenth 
and the early years of the sixteenth century, appearing 
as it did in marked contrast with the ignorance and 
mental inactivity of the Dark Ages, marked a stu- 
pendous change in intellectual conditions. Effects 
were wrought unknown before in all the history of 
human progress, and at this long distance of time 

37 



we can see the picture in true perspective, and are 
amazed at the achievements of human wisdom for the 
betterment of human conditions. But the Renaisance 
of the latter part of the nineteenth and the early years 
of the twentieth century has not yet passed into his- 
tory, and therefore cannot be seen in perspective as 
to its magnitude nor result. But that the changes 
in intellectual conditions during the last half century, 
and the improved physical conditions resulting there- 
from are marvelous is without dispute. The brain 
of man has been on the alert as never before to make 
new discoveries in the realm of art, and science, and 
philosophy and religion. Great institutions of learn- 
ing have been multiplied, great libraries have been 
gathered, new methods of teaching have been devised, 
new applications of philosophy and of science have 
been discovered. Earth and air and sky have been 
ransacked for hidden treasures. New and strange 
theories have been evolved, and data secured upon 
which premises have been laid which, if true, would 
upset all previous opinions, and leave us in uncertainty 
as to many of our established facts. In the midst of 
prevailing conditions we are simply endeavoring to 
hold ourselves together and await developments. Ma- 
chinery and appliances that to our grandfathers would 
have appeared possible only in the realm of fairy land 
are by us considered as commonplace, household and 
commercial necessities. The golden age for widespread 
intelligence and activity is ours. 

But in connection with this unprecedented advance 
in material things, in learning, in ethical culture, in 
the practice of the amenities of life, and in the piling 
up of colossal fortunes, there is a two-fold danger. 
A danger all the more to be dreaded because of its 
insidious and seductive character. To my mind this 
danger consists in a tendency to materialism in con- 
duct and etherialism in religion. The god of this 
•vorld is blinding our eyes as to the real object of our 
pursuit in life, and leading us to consider ourselves 
the benefactors of our race; when in fact we stand, 

38 



muckrake in hand, to gather about us the sticks and 
straws of an earthy competency. Borrowing the lan- 
guage of an author who writes with a trenchant pen : 
''Naked covetousness is not attractive. Even the nat- 
ural heart is repelled by it, and is ready to condemn 
and denounce it. And so the delusive witchery of the 
adversary is employed to array it in honorable garb, 
to dignify it, to make it appear good and praiseworthy, 
so that men may love, bless and follow it as something 
noble and beneficent. If a godless and unscrupulous 
commerce can be made to appear as the great and 
only availing civilizer, if it can show its end to be, not 
only the welfare of individuals, but the prosperity of 
nations and peoples : if it is really the great stimulant 
to intellectual effort, the helper of science, the procurer 
and disseminator of all useful wisdom and intelli- 
gence ; if it is not the possessor of wealth for its own 
sake, but to secure the beneficent power and influence 
and glory to result from its proper employment, then 
will the ugliness of avarice be voided, and all attend- 
ant defalcations from right and truth be swallowed 
up in the granduer and beauty and beneficence of its 
purposes. The demon of covetousness would then 
have become an angel of light. * * * And already, 
from pulpit and platform, from philosopher and poli- 
tical economist, from orator and poet, are we com- 
pelled to hear just these very glorifications of the cu- 
pidities of men as the fore-runner, if not the instru- 
ment, of this world's regeneration. * * * When 
it comes to these great and ever magnifying commer- 
cial compacts and interests, there is not a law of God 
or man which is not compelled to yield if found in the 
way. Protestant and Papist, Pagan and Jew, Moham- 
medan and Infidel, believer and unbeliever, Bible, Tal- 
mud, Vedas, Shastas, Koran and Book of Mormon 
are all alike, and stand in these organizations on the 
same footing, provided only that there is power of 
wealth to aid and direct the one great scramble for 
the world's trade and riches. * * * Governments 
are in the hands of commerce and the money kings; 

39 



and commerce knows no God but gold, and no law 
but self-interest and worldly gain. * * * Church 
is nothing, state is nothing, creed is nothing, Bible is 
nothing, Sunday is nothing, religious scruples are 
nothing, everything is practically nothing, except as 
it can be turned or used to the one great end of ac- 
cumulation of wealth." Herein I say, lies the danger, 
on the earthward side, of the materialistic tendency 
of our times. 

If we turn to the religious conditions we find them 
surprisingly similar to those immediately following 
the apostolic days: the tendency to discard or belittle 
doctrine, and to reject everything but the spirit of love 
and philanhropy which those doctrines are supposed 
to embody. As if the disembodied spirit of a rejected 
truth could be of any practical value to man. It is 
the limit of etherialism in religion. "No wonder," to 
quote again from the same author already cited, "the 
church is lukewarn, divided between Christ and the 
world: not willing to give up pretention and claim to 
the heavenly, and yet clinging close to the earth ; hav- 
ing too much conscience to cast off the name of Christ, 
and too much love for the world to take a firm and 
honest stand entirely on His side. There is much re- 
ligiousness, but very little religion; much sentiment, 
but very little of life to correspond; much profession, 
but very little faith; a joining of the ballroom to the 
communion table, of the opera with the worship of 
God ,and of the feasting and riot of the world with 
pretended charity and Christian benevolence. * * * 
Such splendid churches, and influential and intelligent 
congregations, and learned ,agreeable preachers! Such 
admirable worship and music! So many missionaries 
in the field! Such excellently manned and endowed 
institutions ! So much given for magnificent charities ! 
Such an array in all the attributes of greatness and 
power !" Verily, was there ever a time when the hold- 
ing the form while denying the power of Godliness 
was more prevalent than today ? 

40 



V. The Mission of Baptists in These Critical Times. 

I came now to consider finally whether we as Bap- 
tists have any distinct mission in these critical times, 
and if so then the nature and importance of it. There 
are those who say that, whatever our mission may 
haw been in the past, that work is accomplished, and 
there is therefore no further need of our existence as 
a denomination. And the growing harmony between 
the leading denominations is cited to show that the 
trend is rapid in the direction of the organic unity of 
all Christians. Let the doctrines suffer if need be, but 
let love and harmony prevail. A recent writer in the 
Christian Standard says : 

"We may concede that the separate existence of 
these bodies (referring to the several denominations 
which in the past have had an important mission) was 
justified, for some time at least. But there comes a 
time in their history when their separation becomes 
decidedly sectarian in tendency. As the sects that 
v/ere organized with no just reason for their separate 
existence, so these bodies, when they have accomplish- 
ed their mission, injure the cause by their efforts to 
make their special pleas party issues. Any act on the 
part of such a body which tends to perpetuate division 
after their particular pleas have lost their distinctive 
character is sectarian, and comes under the condemna- 
tion of the Scriptures which denounce divisions." We 
may admit the justness of these remarks in general, 
out when the writer assumes from these premises that 
the Baptists and Disciples ought now to unite and thus 
obliterate one denomination which has fulfilled its mis- 
sion, we feel like raising an interrogatory. Is it cer- 
tain that Baptists as a denomination have fulfilled 
their mission and are now ready to be swallowed up by 
another denomination which evidently considers that it 
still has a mission among men ? 

As we have seen, it has been the mission of Baptists 
in the past to stand more positively and insistently for 
a regenerate membership than any other denomina- 

41 



tion. No nominal church membership, no baptismal 
regeneration, no priestly absolution can take the place 
of the Holy Spirit's work upon the heart. Is this doc- 
trine now so fully accepted that we can afford to break 
ranks, and henceforth make the outward form of im- 
mersion the supreme test of unity, and stand upon the 
same platform with all those who practice immersion, 
whatever other doctrines they may have? If we can 
do that in the interests of Christian charity, why may 
we not make the platform yet a little broader? Since 
the outward form is but a symbol, and we are not to 
be the judge of men's hearts, why not reach out a little 
further and take in our Congregationalist brethren? 
They are really excellent people, and hold to the same 
form of church government with most immersionists. 
Then we can enlarge our conception of the condition 
of church membership to agree with the views of the 
pastor of a prominent Congregationalist church in the 
East, as recently given in the Homeletic Review. "The 
church," he says, "cannot adopt a policy of protection, 
she must have a free and open market. She must 
have no restriction of immigration to her shores. She 
can require no certificate of moral health. She can 
have nothing but an open door." And when we have 
gone so far as that we can heartily subscribe to the 
declaration of a former Disciple minister concerning 
the church of the future: "It will embrace in its fel- 
lowship the man who believes in the divine transcend- 
ence and the man who believes in the divine imma- 
nence. It will unite in fraternal bonds the man who 
believes in the divine unity and the one who holds 
strongly to the trinitarian view. Those who insist upon 
the humanity of Jesus, and those who are equally 
strong in the proclamation of his divinity will work 
side by side and each will find in the other his neces- 
sary complement. * * * Those who emphasize 
reason and those who magnify faith will find that they 
can stand upon common ground." Verily, what a con- 
summation devoutly to be wished ! When God and the 
devil shall discover that they are complements to one 

42 



another and actual co-partners in the government of 
the world ! And all this to be brought about merely by 
'the process of restatement of Bible doctrine'; a pro- 
cess which will 'do away with the hallowed traditions 
and moss-back precedents of the past/ Brethren, 
what is the drift of all this deceptive, latitudinarian 
sentimental gush? Is it not plainly away from the 
faith once for all delivered to the saints ? If Jude was 
right in calling the true people of God of his day to 
earnest contention for the truth, if the positions taken 
in. this discourse are trustworthy, if Baptists hitherto 
have had a mission and a commission no less than to 
maintain the doctrine of a regenerate church member- 
ship, and if the perils of the present day are such as 
have been represented; then certainly Baptists still 
have a mission in the world, and woe unto them if that 
mission be not vigorously prosecuted. We want no 
compact between churches or denominations that is 
artificial and mechanical, no unity that is hollow and 
unreal. There are shams enough already among men, 
let us not attempt to foist upon them another in the 
name of Christian unity by such amalgamation of op- 
posites as has been proposed. "How can two walk 
together except they be agreed?" Upon the perma- 
nency of the Baptist faith and mission Dr. Ashmore 
once wrote: "Let every Baptist disappear from earth 
tomorrow, and let every scrap of Baptist literature be 
swept out of existence at the same time, the New Tes- 
tament alone would start up a fresh generation of 
Baptists the next day." Do we believe this? Some 
one has said that one of the great needs of these lax 
days is a membership in our churches "who are Bap- 
tists by conviction, and loyal enough to that conviction 
to bend all their energies in aiding the denomniation to 
extend these truths at whatever cost or sacrifice." At 
an associational gathering I met at the dinner table a 
young man who had been a member of a Baptist church 
but for prudential reasons had united with a Christian 
church. I said to him: "You still seem to like Baptist 
fodder." "Yes," was the reply, "everything is good to 

43 



me." "Well," I said, "I think Baptist food is a little 
better than any other." And he replied: "It's all alike 
to me." No wonder he was a Baptist last year and a 
Christian this year. Next year he may be an Advent- 
ist, and the following a Unitarian, and he will never be 
missed from the place he has left. In a recent article 
in one of our periodicals a writer emphasizes several 
needs. 

"First, those who will not hold lightly their mem- 
bership in a Baptist household of faith. * * * If 
we are right, we must stand apart; if we are wrong, 
we have no excuse for existing as Baptist churches or 
a denomination. Second, those who will establish 
themselves in truth, not shunning doctrine, but study- 
ing the Word Relieving it, and making it the rule of 
faith and practice in everyday life. Third, those who 
have enough backbone to strive persistently for the 
faith once for all delivered to the saints, and to make 
war on all error * * ' * jeopardizing the souls of 
men and their eternal destiny. 

Fourth, those who will count themselves stewards 
for God, and render the denomination financial support 
by systematic and proportionate giving to all the 
boards and organizations doing the work of the de- 
nomination. 

Fifth, those who will walk with God in their daily 
life and conversation in such a way as to convince men 
that they are truly members of Christ's church." And 
thi? last I may say is of prime importance, practically 
includes all the rest, and without it no person has any 
right to the Baptist name. Dr. Shailer Matthews, in 
a certain connection, says : "It has been the noble mis- 
sion of Baptists to insist upon the reality and the ne- 
cessity of regeneration * * * As Baptists we 
believe that a man in sin is, to use the most tragic of 
words, lost, until his life is touched and changed and 
renewed. * * * By the very nature of the case, 
the Christian must champion the new life that blos- 
soms out in impulse and finds fruitage in good deeds. 
We are not saved because we are good. We are good 

44 



because we are saved. Good deeds are the result of our 
new life. The good tree must bring forth good fruit." 
Sixth, Brethren of the State Convention, here as- 
sembled in our annual meeting, what means this dis- 
cussion in its practical hearing but the strengthening 
of our faith, and the brightening of our life, and the 
broadening of our horizon, and the intensifying of our 
zeal, as we gird our loins and close our ranks for 
mightier battles and more glorious victories than ever 
before. "Our God is marching on," and the keynote 
that should be struck at this first session of our con- 
vention should be progress. As we review the past let 
us be thankful to a merciful and faithful God who has 
blest us hitherto beyond our deserts. Let us humble 
ourselves before him in view of the meagerness of our 
service and offerings during the year just closed. Let 
us strive to realize the wideness of the door of oppor- 
tunity which stands before us, and then with some ade- 
quate conception of the strength of the powers of dark- 
ness against which we move, and the might of Israel's 
God, let us press the battle to the gates, and contend 
earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the 
saints. That the future, radiant with promise, may be 
regal in achievements for God and humanity, as we 
prove true to our mission amidst the perils of this age 
until He comes. 

"Ours the needed truth to speak, 
Right the wronged and raise the weak, 
Ours to make earth's deserts glad, 
In her Eden greenness clad, 
Ours to work as well as pray, 
Clearing thorny wrongs away, 
Plucking up the roots of sin, 
Letting heaven's warm sunshine in. 
Watching on the hills of faith, 
List'ning what the Spirit saith, 

45 



Catching gleams of temple spires, 
Hearing notes from angel choirs. 
With the seer of Patmos gazing 
On the glory downward blazing, 
Till upon earth's grateful sod 
Rests the city of our God." 



46 



INSTRUCTION IN BAPTIST DOCTRINE AND 

HISTORY. ITS IMPORTANCE AND HOW 

TO SECURE IT. 

Why are we Baptists ? Is it simply because our par- 
ents were Baptists before us and brought us up in the 
good old faith ? Is it simply because we were convert- 
ed in a Baptist revival service and followed our asso- 
ciates? Is it simply because the Baptist church is 
nearest our home, or happens to have the best social 
elements of the community? Is it because somebody 
stepped on our toes in a church of some other denom- 
ination, and we thought we would show them a thing 
or two, and get out. It is to be feared that there are 
many within the pale of Baptist chuches for no better 
reasons than one of these just mentioned. It is hardly 
necessary to say that such persons are not usually the 
most consistent and faithful members of the churches 
to which they belong. 

Let it be remembered that there are good reasons for 
being a Baptist, and if we are unable to give a reason 
for the hope that is in us let us bestir ourselves at once 
to learn the ground on which we stand. Nearly a dozen 
years ago the writer baptized into the fellowship of the 
church of which he was then pastor, a man about 40 
years of age, who had never had special opportunities 
for learning Baptist views and practices. He joined 
the Baptist church mainly because of his affection for 
the pastor and two or three families connected with the 
church. But shortly after he had united the thought 
came to him that as he was now a member of the Bap- 
tist church it would be well for him to know what he 
believed, and why. It may be said that he should have 
made the discovery before he united. True, but since 
he did not he was worthy of special credit for being 
willing to investigate afterward. As soon as the reali- 

47 



zation of his own ignorance came to him he at once 
began a careful study of the Bible, with the use of 
whatever helps he could command. As a result that 
man grew, not only in grace, but in stability, as a Bap- 
tist and was for years one of the pillars of that church 
and intelligently active along all denominational lines. 
The Spirit of the age demands intelligence, and one of 
the beneficent results of the young people's movement 
should be the training of a generation of Baptists who 
shall know what they believe, and why ; and being as- 
sured of the value of the principles they hold, shall be 
intensely active in their dissemination. 

1st. As young Baptists we ought to know the es- 
sential Peculiarities of Baptist doctrine. Take note 
that there are peculiarities that are essential, essential 
not only to the existence of the denomination but to 
the maintenance of the integrity of the truth of God's 
word. There is the idea afloat that it is only a ques- 
tion of the use of a little water, more or less, that sep- 
arates us from other christians, and there are some 
even within our own ranks so illy informed as to feel 
that; we are unnecessarily exclusive, and to wish that 
the day might come when we should be more liberal. 
We need instruction along the lines of doctrine till we 
come to understand that the Baptist banner floats for 
something more than a mere name, and that we have 
peculiarities which are the very peculiarities of Bible 
truth. Among these peculiarities is: (a) The prin- 
ciple of soul liberty. We have become so accustomed 
nowadays to the idea of religious liberty that we are 
in danger of forgetting the extent of the application, 
and that denominational differences have any thing 
to do with it. But think for a moment. As Baptists 
we believe that the principle of soul liberty is incon- 
sistent with the doctrine of infant baptism. No one 
not even the parents, have the moral right thus to pre- 
determine the church relationship of an individual 
from very infancy, and to take away from him the 
privilege of a personal obedience to one of Christ's 
commands. Again, we believe that the principle of 

48 



soul liberty is inconsistent with the union of church 
and state. As Baptists we have always strenuously 
held that every citizen should have a perfect right to 
worship God according to the dictates of his own con- 
science, or, so far as the state is concerned, not to 
worship Him at all. A very little thought will con- 
vince us that in this wide application of the principle 
of soul liberty Baptists are a peculiar people, and that 
this peculiarity is essential, not only to their own ex- 
istence, but to the highest good of all men. Of this we 
shall have something more to say further on. 

Another peculiarity ox Baptist doctrine is : (b) The 
principle of a regenerate church membership. Here, 
as in the former case, while there is a seeming agree- 
ment with us on the part of other denominations, there 
is a real divergence. Through the loop hole of infant 
baptism multitudes enter the portals of other churches 
that give no more evidence of regeneration than their 
unbaptized neighbors. In countries where the union 
of church and state exists this diiference of doctrine 
is more plainly manifest than here. In such cases, 
except where the law tolerates dissenters, every in- 
fant is baptized, and by consequence every citizen is a 
christian in the eyes of the law. Seeing this logical 
result of a departure from New Testament doctrine 
Baptists call a halt, and declare that only those who 
give credible evidence of a change of heart shall be 
eligible to membership in any church. No rite admin- 
istered to unconscious infants, no laying on of hands 
in confirmation, no line of hereditary descent can fit 
one to become a member of Christ's visible body on the 
earth. Nothing short of the actual work of the Holy 
Spirit in the impartation of a new life can produce 
such fitness. That only which has been born of the 
Spirit can rightfully have a place in the Spiritual body. 
Though others may admit this principle in theory, 
Baptists are peculiar in carrying out the principle to 
its logical conclusion. 

Still another peculiarity of Baptist doctrine is: (c) 
The principle of absolute submission to Jesus Christ 

49 



as Lawgiver in the Church. The church can never 
legislate; it can only obey. The voice of tradition we 
will never heed; to the commands of Jesus only we 
bow. The clamour of convenience is impious when the 
setting aside of a plain command of Jesus Christ is 
involved. What have I to do with the recognition of 
an outward act or rite performed upon me by another 
in unconscious infancy? It is for me to yield a volun- 
tary personal obedience to Him who says, "Repent and 
be baptized every one of you." What authority has 
pope or bishop or priest over me as a loyal subject of 
the only King in Zion? "One is your Master, and all 
ye are brethren." This principle involves also the 
idea of church independency. There can be no orders 
for the clergy, no gradations of authoritative organi- 
zation. The court of final appeal is the individual 
church, than which there is no other in accordance 
with the regulations of Christ himself. These three we 
put down as essential peculiarities, essential to self 
preservation, essential to loyalty to our chosen King, 
essential to a faithful discharge of our obligations 
to our fellowmen. These points will well repay care- 
ful study, and are convincing proof that it takes more 
than belief in immersion for baptism to make a gen- 
uine Baptist. It is a shallow, superficial view that 
leads one to imagine the quantity of water to consti- 
tute the difference between Baptists and others in the 
christian world as to doctrine. 

2nd. As young Baptists we ought to know the es- 
sential peculiarities of Baptist history, (a) There 
has been a substantial uniformity of doctrine from 
the time of the Apostles. Here is the true apostolic 
succession. As for a literal apostolic succession it is 
absolutely beyond the power of any to say that there 
are no missing links in the chain. But it has been 
shown that in every age from the days of Paul and 
his coadjutors there have been those who held sub- 
stantially the same views of doctrine as they them- 
selves. Not that there has been an unbroken line of 
ordination ; not that there has been uniformity of name, 

50 



an unbroken succession of churches bearing the name 

of Baptist. To attempt to do that would be unneces- 
sary and foolish. But what we do claim as our right- 
ful heritage in the matter of history is this: that in 
every age, somewhere, perhaps few in number, and 
despised and hidden away in the fastnesses of the 
earth, but somewhere, there have been those who held 
these very peculiarities so dear to every Baptist's 
heart today. It is easy to trace the origin of other 
denominations. Romanism was the outgrowth of the 
perversion of christian doctrine in the early centuries, 
coupled with the thirst for temporal power on the part 
of those who had accepted these perversions. The 
Protestant Episcopal church of America was trans- 
ported from English soil, and the Church of England 
broke its vassalage to Rome only in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Presbyterianism dates only from the reforma- 
tion, Congregationalism or Independency from the lat- 
ter part of the sixteenth century, and Methodism from 
the days of Wesley, But as Baptists we claim no hu- 
man origin. Neither Roger Williams in the New World 
nor John Robinson in the Old was the founder of the 
Baptist faith. To those not in sympathy with us it 
may seem like supreme egotism to claim it, neverthe- 
less the history of the ages clearly demonstrates the 
fact that in a sense not true of any other denomination 
we "are built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner 
stone." In the common use of the word all who are 
not Romanists are termed Protestants, but strictly 
speaking Baptists are not Protestants. We were never 
in Rome, hence we never came out of Rome, either di- 
rectly or indirectly. We have stood by ourselves in 
all the ages; Protestants only in the sense that we 
protest against error wherever we find it, and stand 
for unflinching obedience to the word of God against 
every tradition of man ,or ecclesiastical dictum what- 
soever. And this peculiarity of Baptist history is an 
essential peculiarity. When one is casting about for 
some church affiliation does he not wish to become 

51 



identified with that organization whose members can 
give the most conclusive proof that they not only are 
but always have been the most unswerving copyists of 
the pattern that was given them in the Word? The 
church that is and always has been in completest 
accord with the teachings of Christ and the Apostles 
would seem to be the object of one's search. 

Another essential peculiarity of Baptist history is : 
[b] their heroic defense of the doctrine of soul liberty. 
We who live in the full enjoyment of civil religious 
rights can hardly realize the bitterness of the conflict 
through which our forefathers passed to secure for 
us this boon. It is interesting to know that in all that 
conflict Baptists were in the very forefront of the bat- 
tle. They believed in the doctrine of soul liberty, and 
they lived in accord with their convictions. The prin- 
ciple was so dear to them not only for themselves but 
for the world that they were willing to endure untold 
privation, and even to suffer the loss of life itself if 
only their posterity might enjoy the blessing. Every 
Baptist of today ought to read the little pamphlet by 
Rev. G. S. Bailey, D. D., of blessed memory, entitled 
"Trials and Victories of Religious Liberty in Amer- 
ica;" also two pamphlets by Rev. Geo. B. Taylor, of 
Virginia; one "The Baptists and Religious Liberty," 
the other on "Virginia Baptists." In one of these lit- 
tle books I find these words which help to emphasize 
the thought now under discussion. "The Baptists have 
suffered in common with other christians for their 
faith as christians; have suffered at the hands of 
wicked rulers, and of the Roman hierarchy. They have 
also (and here is the point to be specially noted) suf- 
fered by themselves, and for their peculiar views as 
Baptists, have suffered at the hands of Lutherans, 
Episcopalians and Presbyterians. And it is a note- 
worthy fact that for nothing has more persecution 
been suffered than for the rejection of infant baptism." 
Mosheim, the great historian, testifies concerning the 
sixteenth century that "the error of limiting the ad- 
ministration of baptism to adult persons only, and the 

52 



practice of rebaptizing such as had received that sacra- 
ment in infancy, were looked upon as most flagitious 
and intolerable heresies; many suffered death, not on 
account of their being considered rebellious subjects, 
but merely because they were judged incorrigible 
heretics." It is further to be remembered in honor of 
our Baptist forefathers that while they thus suffered 
for the cause they loved, and were persecuted in all 
lands, and by every denomination which had an exist- 
ence previous to the triumph of the doctrine of re- 
ligious liberty, they themselves never persecuted 
others. Do we as young Baptists comprehend this 
fact that Baptists only of all the older denominations 
are absolutely free from the stain of persecution, and 
that they stood alone through all the dark days in the 
very forefront of the strife? We have indicated this 
as one of the most essential peculiarities of our his- 
tory because it is the legitimate outgrowth of our prin- 
ciples. Some may be ready to affirm that the only 
reason why Baptists have not persecuted is because 
they have never had the power. But Dr. Taylor, in 
the pamphlet referred to, very clearly shows the falsity 
of that idea by citing instances where they had power 
but refused to exercise it. And then he goes on to 
show that while Baptists are doubtless the same in dis- 
position as other men, and would have done the same 
things under the same training, yet with the same 
training and beliefs as others they would no longer 
have been Baptists; that since Baptist principles are 
inherently opposed to coercion in religious matters, 
therefore the bitter fruit of persecution can never 
grow on the Baptist tree. One other essential pecu- 
liarity of Baptist history is : [c] , that their place dur- 
ing the last century has been in the forefront of the 
world's evangelization. The record of Baptist missions 
in this missionary age is a cause for profound grati- 
tude to Almighty God. The great Head of the Church 
has set the mark of his approval upon the Baptist faith 
In no uncertain way in the regions beyond, and we sug- 
gest that the reason for the phenomenal success of 

53 



Baptist work in heathen lands is to be found in the 
very nature of Baptist doctrine. 

3rd. As young Baptists we should realize the im- 
portance of instruction along these lines of doctrine 
and history, [a] That we may know the biblical 
grounds of the doctrine, and the providential grounds 
of the history. The teachings and providence of God 
underlie our whole denominational structure, and we 
need instruction that we may be able to prove this 
statement true, [b] That our denominational esprit 
du corp may be intensified. There is such a disposition 
nowadays to ignore or undervalue differences of belief, 
and to echo the world's idea that it does not matter 
much what one believes if only his heart is all right. 
That one church or denomination is as good as another, 
that we are all aiming for the same place, and so we 
might as well journey on together here without chal- 
lenging one another's opinions. Did it never occur to 
the reader that Christian love is quite a different thing 
from sentimentalism, and that all this talk about one 
being as good as another if we are only to get to 
Heaven is the merest twaddle and nonsense? The jelly 
fish is not the highest type of physical life, neither is 
its counterpart in the christian world the highest type 
of spiritual life. In order to a stalwart life we need 
backbone, and this is true however you take it. When 
we find a man who is a straight out Methodist or 
Presbyterian we like him, for we know where to find 
him, and what to expect of him. But for these wishy- 
washy, goody-goody sort of people who like one church 
just as well as another we have little patience, and 
little respect for their judgment. They may be very 
good people, doubtless they are, but you will never find 
them in the front rank of the world's workers for 
Christ in pushing on the great enterprises of the 
Church for the winning of men. This esprit du corp 
is one thing for which we cannot help admiring our 
Methodist friends. They pull together. They extol 
Methodism. The Methodist discipline and the Meth- 
odist history, and the Methodist ministry, and the 

54 



Methodist church are to them the greatest and best of 
all the agencies for christian work. Amen! It ought 
so to be. If one is to be a Methodist let him be one 
with all his heart. There is enough in Methodist his- 
tory to inspire the enthusiasm of any one who is in- 
telligent concerning it. I would that some of the fire 
of their zeal might fall on us all. If one is a Presby- 
terian let him be one in earnest. There is enough of 
sturdy battling for the orthodox faith in the history 
of Presbyterians to kindle the fire of denominational 
loyalty in any adherent of the faith. And if so with 
these why not all the more with us who are Baptists? 
If only we are duly instructed in the grounds of our 
faith, and of our history, so that we are able to detect 
the voice of God in the one, and the hand of God in 
the other, how we shall glory in the name, and stand 
together for the common cause! 

4th. We come now to the practical aplication of 
what has preceded. If it is important to know, and if 
instruction is necessary in order that we may know, 
then the question is vital: How to secure the needed 
instruction? This is a question intensely practical. 
Much may be done by individual study, as in the case 
of the man in mature life cited in the beginning. If 
only there be first of all a burning thirst for knowl- 
edge the person will find means for gratifying that 
thirst. Books are cheap, and the precious odd mo- 
ments can be utilized even by the busy worker in other 
lines, and somehow or other the one who has a strong 
enough desire will become an intelligent Baptist in 
spite of obstacles. Indeed this longing for knowledge 
is a prime necessity for progress, either with or with- 
out helps. The one who perseveres in the face of dif- 
ficulty and grows in spite of them is the one who will 
profit most by any opportunities that may be put 
within his reach. The pastor can do much to aid these 
earnest seekers after truth. By private conversation, 
by bible readings, by special sermons, by suggestive 
hints he may be able to do much to incite and to satisfy 

55 



the longings of his people for a better acquaintance 
with our Baptist doctrine and history. 

But most of all can be accomplished, of course, by 
organized effort, and if there be first a willing mind 
this matter of organization is far easier than might 
be supposed. Bring the Chautauqua idea into use for 
denominational work, as it has thus far been utilized 
for undenominational. Let circles for reading be or- 
ganized, perhaps two or three in operation at the same 
time, under the general direction of the pastor, and 
yet not requiring his attendance at every session of 
each class. Then for a part of the year let the earnest 
ones form themselves into a normal training class 
under the direct charge of the pastor or someone else 
fitted for the service, and let them take up some defi- 
nite work and hold themselves rigidly to its accom- 
plishment. The writer recalls as one of the pleasant- 
est of pastoral experience his work in connection with 
such a class. After three months of faithful study the 
class gathered at the parsonage for examination. Seated 
around the dining room table, with pencil and paper, 
but no helps, with the questions before them, they 
waited the signal to begin their work. Then for one 
solid hour not a word was spoken by anyone, while 
each wrote out the answers as carefully as if he were 
undergoing a regular school examination. Neither 
pastor nor scholars will ever forget the pleasure of that 
work. A great object would be gained by the move- 
ment among the young people if it should result in the 
organization of such work, and its faithful continu- 
ance. 



56 



THE MASTER PASSION. 

Psalm 69:9: "For the Zeal of Thine House Hath 
Eaten Me Up." 

A man in disfavor with his sovereign fled into the 
wilderness, gathering about him a company of dis- 
contented characters who were burdened with debt, 
and in distress from various causes, he became their 
captain. In their wanderings they came one day into 
the vicinity of the place of his birth. Accustomed to 
many hardships, and driven from place to place by the 
exigencies for his position, one might look upon his 
swarthy face, and imagine there was no tender spot 
left in his heart. But at thought of Bethlehem a 
strange thrill causes his whole frame to quiver with 
emotion, and with husky voice as the memories of 
childhood rush into his mind, he cries out with bated 
breath: "Oh that one would give me to drink of the 
water of the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate." 
Three of his mighty men hear this longing of his heart, 
and at once they determine that his wish shall be 
gratified. The village is guarded by a Philistine gar- 
rison, but what is that to these brave outlaws when 
their chief speaks ! He longs for a drink from the well 
of his childhood, and he shall have it. Inspired by this 
determination they press their way through every ob- 
stacle, and rest not till their object is gained, and the 
water is placed in their leader's hand. It was the man 
who had such power to win men to himself, and to fire 
their hearts with loyal devotion, who afterwards sat 
upon the throne of the united kingdoms of Judah and 
Israel, and fulfilled the spirit of that song which so 
roused the jealousy of Saul at an early day. "Saul hath 
slain his thousands, and David his ten thousand." It 
was the man whose very touch was magnetic, who 

57 



could set a whole nation of tender women singing his 
praise, and could nerve hard men to sternest conflict, 
and could gather broken fragments into a united king- 
dom, who uttered the words of our text : "The zeal of 
thine house hath eaten me up." It is this trait in 
David's character, call it what name you will, this all 
conquering inspiration, this power which urged him on 
in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties, 
and roused others to heroic endeavor in his behalf, that 
suggests my theme for the hour. 

Once this text is quoted in the New Testament. 
The Man of Nazareth had just entered upon his public 
ministry. He came to his Father's house only to find 
it so prostituted to worldly purposes that it seemed 
more like a den of thieves than a place of worship. 
Burning with righteous indignation, his eye blazing 
with the inward fire, he made a scourge of small cords, 
and set about the task of cleansing the temple. "Take 
these things hence." Single-handed and alone, by the 
force of his own being, he accomplished what many an- 
other might have failed to do with a cohort of soldiers. 
No wonder his disciples remembered that it was writ- 
ten, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." The 
master passion of the earthly life of Jesus was to do 
the will of him that sent him, and to finish his work. 
From the time that he asked his mother as a boy, 
"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness," on to the final suffering of the cross he never 
flinched, and the last week of his life on earth was so 
swayed by this master passion as to be known through 
all succeeding eyes as the passion week of human his- 
tory. 

A word or two by way of definition is first of all 
necessary. We think of passion ordinarily as an out- 
burst of strong emotion, particularly anger, sometimes 
of love. At least the man of towering passion is liable 
thus to break forth upon provacation. But the root 
idea of passion is suffering, endurance, and so the man 
of towering passion ought to be one capable of great 
endurance under provacation without undue manif esta- 

58 



tion of anger. Still another use of the word is that of 
eager desire, strong predilection, controlling choice and 
inclination, a pursuit engaged in with fondness, as 
poetry became to him a passion. Now I shall attempt 
to define my use of the word only by saying that it in- 
cludes all these various ideas which I have suggested; 
capacity for emotion, endurance, sudden outburst, the 
controlling choice or pursuit in life. I am trying to out- 
line the thought rather than define it. A writer says : 
"Mingling itself with all one's effort there must be that 
deep enthusiasm, that passion for one's work whatever 
it is, that makes toil easy, and holds one unflinchingly 
to his task." Showing how indispensible is this trait 
the same writer says : "Who has not seen men splendid- 
ly equipped in every particular, with fine endowments, 
much learning, and many advantages, yet who, not- 
withstanding all these, seem to accomplish nothing in 
the world? And why is it? we ask. Failure is evident, 
but from what cause? Is it not that they are too 
often lacking in the single trait of enthusiasm, which 
alone can fuse and make available one's other great 
qualities ? The machinery is perfect, the boiler is 
sound, but there is no fire, and hence no steam. They 
have no enthusiasm themselves, hence no power to 
kindle it in others. Life, seemingly, so far as they are 
concerned, is a pitiful failure, barren of results. An 
intelligent lady remarked concerning one of her sons, 
that he had excellent natural abilities, was a fine teach- 
er, and had all the elements necessary to success, but. 
she said, 'he has no enthusiasm, and will never exert 
himself to do that which he might, if he would, easily 
accomplish.' " 

Is not this true of many a one? One cannot help 
wishing at times for some potent influence to break, 
even rudely if need be, the strange spell, and rouse 
these natures of which so much might reasonably be 
expected. Let it be understood that we are not advo- 
cating what is familiarly known as gush. That is one 
extreme. What we do urge is that mysterious some- 
thing, call it what one may, which brings about great 
results, that something which you will always find to 

59 



have been a factor in the careers of all successful men. 
Indifference never wrote great works, nor thought out 
striking inventions, nor reared the solemn architecture 
that awes the soul, nor breathed sublime music, nor 
painted glorious pictures, nor undertook heroic philan- 
thropies. All these granduers are born of enthusiasm. 
And enthusiasm is not fanaticism. Some one has said : 
'It is the expiration of an inspiration. , The individual 
looks about him ,and sees the work to be done ; he looks 
within, and considers his own aptitudes; he looks into 
the future ,and contemplates the possibilities within 
his grasp; he drinks full inspirations while his heart 
grows big with hope. His soul is on fire with the pas- 
sion of his being, and he throws himself into his work 
with an energy that is resistless, a courage that is in- 
vincible, a perseverance that is untiring. He knows 
no rest, no failure, until he has wrung victory out of 
the very jaws of defeat, and stands proudly on the 
summit of achievement, acknowledged by the world a 
successful man. 

Such a man was Alexander the Great. Coming to 
the throne at the age of twenty years, and dying at 
the age of thirty-three, he accomplished an amount 
of work that was simply herculean in proportions. He 
consolidated the discordant elements of the Grecian 
states, he conquered the Barbarians of the North, he 
crossed the Hellespont, he overwhelmed Darius with 
defeat, made himself master of Phoenecia, pressed his 
way into Egypt, and founded the city that bears his 
name. He seems well nigh omnipresent: now at Aler- 
andria, now at Babylon, now crossing the Indus, back 
again at Babylon and preparing for a campaign into 
Arabia. Everywhere civilization took root, the knowl- 
edge of mankind increased, and the sciences flourished. 
We ask how one man can do so much in thirteen years, 
Simply because he submits himself to the power of a 
controlling passion that is equal to such results. Bound- 
less ambition takes possession of his being, and he 
does naught else but gratify his thrist for conquest. 

60 



Such a man was Julius Caesar, who gave to the 
world the splendid example of crossing the Rubicon, 
Conceiving, in early life a passion for popularity, he 
made everything subservient to that end. The sub- 
jugation of Transalpine Gaul was the first extended 
field of his effort. In this work he was successful, even 
crossing into Britain once and again, and receiving 
the submission of a portion of the island. Pompey be- 
came jealous of his successes, and determined upon 
his overthrow. The critical time in his career is at 
hand. He is ordered to disband his army within a 
certain time or be considered an enemy of the state. 
What will he do? Apparently Pompey has everything 
in his favor. He is at the capital; he has the sanction 
of the Senate, while Caesar in Father Gaul has to deal 
with all the questions involved at arm's length. His 
decision is prompt. Having the sympathies of his 
army he resolves upon a movement, prompt and dar- 
ing. He crosses the Rubicon, inaugurates a civil war, 
and in three short months all Italy is at his feet. 
Pushing on after his fleeing foe the battle of Pharsalia 
determines the fate of the Roman Empire, and Caesar 
is invested with unlimited power. He has gained what 
h@ sought. 

Such a man was Napoleon Bonaparte, of whom it 
was said in his youth : "Keep your eye on young Bona- 
parte, and promote him as fast as possible, for if you 
do not he will make a way for himself." The single 
word intensity, describes his spirit. He was inde- 
fatigable, he was insatiable. High ambition took pos- 
session of his soul. He had no idea of moral responsibil- 
ity, no conscience, no fear of God. Everything was 
subordinated to the master passion for place and 
power. Military prowess and power dazzled and be- 
wildered him with their brilliancy. No hardship was 
too great, no suffering too severe, either for himself 
or his men, that would bring him nearer to the goal. 
Actuated by this spirit himself he seeks to inspire his 
men with the same. In time of distress we hear him 
saying to them: "Famine, cold and misery are the 

61 



school of good soldiers: here on the plains of Italy 
you will conquer them, and then you will find comfort 
and riches and glory." This was when the army was 
perched upon the summit of the maritime Alps in want 
of everything: and in spite of all unfavorable circum- 
stances he descended from those dizzy heights like a 
torrent, and swept everything before him with resist- 
less energy. His campaign in Egypt furnishes another 
instance of his indomitable perseverance. Crossing 
the desert amidst incredible hardships he finally stands 
at the base of the pyramids, only to find himself con- 
fronted by an army nearly as large as his own, thor- 
oughly equipped and drilled. It was then that the 
metal of his character was made manifest in the utter- 
ance of that memorable sentence: "From the sum- 
mit of these monuments forty centuries are gazing 
upon you." Fighting for glory as these men were, 
how they must have been thrilled by such a sentiment, 
and fired with the determination to do their best! It 
need hardly be said that the French were victors in 
the desperate engagement. A little latir Napoleon 
finds himself shut up in Egypt by the capture of the 
fleet by the English. Still unquenchable the fires of 
his unholy ambition roll on, and we hear him saying: 
"We must remain here or emerge from it great like 
the ancients." With a grip that was unyielding, and 
a courage that was unswerving, and a will that could 
bear no checking this imperious nature came out from 
under reverses that would have annihilated most men, 
and came to the front again and again as a mighty 
conquerer. In his administration of the affairs of 
state he made the whole machinery of government 
subservient to his aims, and even seemed to animate 
it by his individual will. 

What these men, I have mentioned were in arms, 
Stephen Girard and John Jacob Astor, were in finance : 
Disraeli, John Bright and Washington in states- 
manship; Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Bacon 
in literature and philosophy ; Cuvier, Agassiz and Dar- 
win in the sciences; and Ezekiel, John the Baptist, 

62 



Paul, Luther and John Knox in religion. Nor is this 
an exhaustive list. Every generation of the world's 
population helps to swell the list of those who have 
reached the extraordinary through the possession of 
a master passion. Admit that some are blessed with 
larger endowments than others, yet it is not genius 
that makes men great. It is passion: a passion not 
momentary and trifling, but enduring and majestic; 
a passion that endows one with "an infinite capacity 
for taking pains." That enables him to endure as 
seeing Him who and that which is invisible. One 
writer says that "a man of genius is always a man of 
limitless growth, with a soul smitten with a passion 
for growth, and open to every influence which pro- 
motes it: one who grows always like a tree, by day 
and by night ,in calm and in storm, through opposi- 
tion and high applause, in difficulty and in despair." 
It is not possible for everyone to be a genius in the 
popular sense, but in this sense it is possible. You 
may take an account of stock, average the possibilities, 
and determine upon your aptitudes, and having thus 
done it is within your power to set your face like a 
flint in the direction of your greatest capabilities, and 
with the raging fires of a worthy ambition pent up 
within your bones to pass on through fear and dis- 
couragement, and even through disaster that seems 
irretrievable to a praiseworthy success. Remember 
always that mediocrity lies along the common level of 
ordinary attainments, and that it requires no great 
skill or push or perseverance to make progress along 
the pleasant, winding, valley path that skirts the 
mountain. But to reach the extraordinary you must 
take your staff in hand, and turn your back on easy 
going pleasures, and climb the rugged steeps of some 
Matterhorn of difficulty, amidst blinding snows and 
stinging cold, and along the brink of yawning chasms, 
and unless you have faith in the value of the achiev- 
ment you will never make the outlay necessary to 
secure it. 

63 



Having said so much upon the importance of a 
master passion I must emphasize the fact, implied all 
along, that in order to satisfactory progress the pas- 
sion which controls us must be worthy, both in its aim 
and spirit. The aim must be honorable, and the pas- 
sion a genuine enthusiasm for the right. Else we can 
never be sure that the final outcome will be such as 
to immortalize our names. With the passion of our 
being in the wrong direction we may toil never so hard, 
and endure never so bravely, only to find at last that 
we have succeeded in making ourselves notorious 
rather than illustrious, infamous rather than famous. 
Those are true words upon the lips of one of Shake- 
speare's characters: 

"Cromwell, I charge thee fling away ambition, 
By that sin fell the angels ; how can man then, 
The image of his Maker, hope to win by it?" 

To make my meaning plain it is only necessary to 
mention in connection the names of such as Nero and 
Washington, the bloody Mary and Ann Haseltine Jud- 
son. These were all persons who had a master pas- 
sion, yet we look not upon all of them in the same light. 
How true the poet's words : 

"Who aspires (that is in the ignoble sense) must down 

as low, 
As high he soared: obnoxious first or last to base- 

est things." 

Napoleon found it so. For a season he rode upon the 
crest of the wave, and it seemed but a question of a 
little time when he would be the autocrat of the na- 
tions. But simply because his ambition was an un- 
worthy one, because the passion of his being was 
kindled at forbidden altars, there came a time when 
he met with a Waterloo defeat, and the night of his 
captivity settled down in humiliating darkness upon 
the day of his supremacy. 

In order that the aim of one's being be true, and the 
flame of one's passion pure, selfishness most be elimi- 

64 



nated. He must live for others, not himself. Byron's 
fame is tarnished by his selfish yielding to imperious 
lust. A shadow perhaps not quite so dense rests upon 
Goethe from a like cause. Burns receives admiration 
mingled with pity that he who could do so much could 
not control his taste for drink. The lustre of the name 
of Stephen Girard is not what it might have been, 
though his posthumous benevolence was great, from 
what we know of his absorbing greed for gold in life. 
It will always be a question whether he would have 
left so much to Philadelphia if he could have seen his 
way clear to carry his wealth with him when he cross- 
ed the River. In these days it is often remarked with 
what alacrity men assume the responsibilities of offi- 
cial position, even begging the privilege of serving 
their country in places of power. Perhaps it cannot 
be known how much of this ardor would be abated if 
there were no fat salaries connected with the offices. 
We have a suspicion, however, that such eagerness 
is not wholly the result of disinterested benevolence. 
Kow few really unselfish souls there are ! Yet it must 
ever remain true that an untarnished fame is the re- 
sult of an unselfish purpose unselfishly executed. "Let 
all the ends thou aimst at be thy country's, thy God's 
and truths." 

Yet this is far from saying that we should not put 
self into our work. First determine in what direc- 
tion outside yourself the trend of your life should be, 
and then give yourself to the attainment of the object 
thus decided upon with the completest abandon. It is 
told of Brinsley Sheridan that when he made his 
maiden effort in Parliament one of his friends said to 
him : "I don't think this is your line. You had better 
have stuck to your former pursuits." Sheridan felt 
this keenly for a time, but suddenly started up with 
the exclamation: "It is in me, and it shall come out 
of me." Instead of yielding to a sense of shame on 
account of a single defeat he made this very failure 
a reason for renewed diligence. Seven years pass away, 
during which time he never lost sight of the end to- 

65 



ward which he was striving. With all the power he 
possessed he gave himself to its attainment. He then 
appears again upon the floor of Parliament, and the 
impression made is so profound that at the close of the 
speech an adjournment is ordered to give that dignified 
body time to recover from its intensity of feeling. The 
thrill of that hour lingered in the minds of the par- 
ticipants for a score of years, and it was even said to 
be the greatest speech delivered in the memory of man. 
His magnificent success was the result of the combin- 
ing of all the forces of his nature upon a single point, 
and the firing of the whole being by the consciousness 
of inherent ability. Had his aim been entirely beyond 
himself his success would have been still more brilliant. 
As it stands his example enforces the point we are now 
considering, that all there is of one's self must be 
thrown into his work if he is to rise above the com- 
mon level. 

"All is concentred in a life intense, 
Where not a beam, nor air, nor leaf is lost, 
But hath a part of being.' ' 

The work in general is the same. If your work 
differs in any essential degree from that of your neigh- 
bor it will be because of the personality you have 
thrown into it. Speaking of delivery upon the stage 
one says: "It makes a great difference to the force 
of any sentence whether there is a man behind it or 
not." So it makes all the difference in the world in 
regard to any given work whether there is a man be- 
hind it or not. All machines in good order, doing the 
work for which they are built, stand upon an equality 
of grade. No one of them has a personality to cause 
it' to rise above its fellows. Since you are a living 
being, and not a machine, let that fact be known in 
the character of the work you turn out. Vitalize it 
so that it shall pulsate with an intense, throbbing life, 
all your own. Dump the old dead engine into the 
ditch, and move the train by the force of an engine that 

66 



has fire in the furnace, hot water in the boiler, and 
steam in the cylinder. 

In what I have now said I have tried to show the 
necessity for a master passion in life in order to the 
realization of any ambition, worthy or unworthy. That 
in order to an honorable distinction the controlling pas- 
sion must be worthy in aim and spirit, lifting men 
toward the heights rather than hurling them into the 
depths. It needs no argument to prove that ambition 
may lead in either direction. 

"Wild ambition loves to slide, not stand, 
And fortune's ice prefers to virtue's land." 

But Young puts it truly when he says : "Too low 
they build who build beneath the stars." I could have 
said that much had I been a pagan philosopher instead 
of a Christian minister, and I fear there is a great deal 
of so-called preaching at the present day that differs 
in no appreciable degree from the ethics of Socrates. 
Standing upon this common ground of humanity where 
the wise and honorable of all ages have ever stood, I 
wish to advance to still higher ground along the rug- 
ged steeps of self-denial and sacrifice trod by the model 
Man, and by those who have sought fellowship with 
Him in his humiliation and in His glory. David ex- 
claims: "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." 
Measurably true in his own experience it was abso- 
lutely true in the life of Him of whom it was intended 
as a prophecy. The master passion of David, typify- 
ing that of Jesus Christ ,was "the zeal of thine house." 
And furthermore it was a passion so mighty in its 
sweep that each of them could say, "It hath eaten me 
up." Without separating these for individual treat- 
ment let us seek to grasp as far as possible the scope 
of the thought, or rather for a little time let us give 
ourselves up to the contagion of its influence. Ponder 
the words. Let them get a hold on your conscious- 
ness, and filter down through the intellect and heart 
until the very fibres of the soul are gripped by the tre- 
mendous thought: "The zeal of thine house hath eaten 

67 



me up." Coming under the sway of the emotions thus 
aroused we shall begin to feel how unworthy of our 
creation, and of our destiny, and the possibilities of 
our nature is any aim lower than the highest; and 
that we have reached the highest only when we have 
subordinated every selfish interest to the one supreme 
purpose of glorifying our Maker, and advancing His 
kingdom in the world. 

"Life's but a means unto an end — that end, be- 
ginning, mean and end of all things — God." Revolving 
this thought we find our hearts enlarging with the 
idea of the divine immensity, and we see creation 
groaning for the day of its deliverance, when God 
shall be all in all. It is neither the pantheism of 
benighted heathenism, nor the etherialism of modern, 
enlightened ,philosophical theosophy that holds us with 
such a mighty grasp. But while the one talks blindly 
of annihilation as the supreme good, when the uni- 
verse shall be swallowed up in Deity; and the other 
talks mistily, as well as mystically, of the unison of 
the spirit of man and the spirit of God, ignoring the 
indisputable fact of alienation; the living Word comes 
to us with a thought that is big with inspiration. In 
voluntary submission to the divine will, in diligent en- 
deavor along the lines of the divine purposes, in loving 
and self-sacrificing devotion to the divine Being, we 
find the supreme end of life, the noblest motive to 
action, the mightiest impulse for the heart, the most 
substantial enjoyment for time, the brightest hope 
for eternity. This, indeed, is sublime. "The zeal of 
thine house hath eaten me up." 

Among the designs in church decorations we some- 
times see the cross and the flag linked together. And 
what, indeed, could be more fitting? The flag, the 
symbol of all that we as Americans hold most dear, 
the grand old flag that has floated at the masthead of 
the ship of state for more than a century; and the 
cross, the symbol of the Christian faith, the true pal- 
ladium of our liberties, the foundation of our nation's 
greatness, and the chief element of her glory. The 

68 



difference between France and America today is the 
difference between a flag linked with the cross and 
a flag divorced from it. And what is true of the na- 
tion as a whole is true none the less of the constituent 
parts of the nation. Fling out your banner to ths 
breeze, individual citizen! Glory in your freedom 
of action and of will. But at the same time see to it 
that athwart the stars and stripes of your individual 
preferences there be thrown the blood-stained banner 
of the cross of Calvary. Let that symbol be the pal- 
ladium of your liberty and the limit of your freedom. 
See to it that every thought be brought into captivity 
to the will of Christ, and that your freest will be to do 
the will of Him that sent you and to finish His work. 
Remember these words of another: "Never for a mo- 
ment allow yourself to believe that there is any neces- 
sary antoganism between success and downright in- 
tegrity of character — uprightness of heart and life." 
And furthermore, remember that the only sure stand- 
ard of uprightness is the word of Him who spoke as 
never man spoke. Study that life on the human 
side. Notice His singleness of aim, His unwearied 
activity. Ponder those catch words of His character : 
"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness." "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." 
"My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me." "Not 
my will but thine be done." "Father, into thy hands 
I commit my spirit." Meditate upon His patience, 
and forbearance and unselfishness. Then study the 
same life from the divine side. Witness His power. 
Take note of His authority. Meditate upon the grand 
simplicity and the simple granduer of His being. Hear 
Him speak as never man spoke. Watch the winds and 
the waves obey Him. Mark how there comes a time 
when His enemies durst ask no more questions. Gaze 
upon the panorama of the future as it is unfurled to 
the view of His wondering disciples. Let the ozone 
of the spiritual atmosphere surrounding Him vivify 
your own soul. Let the enthusiasm of His life fire you 
with a burning zeal, and above all let the fact control 

69 



you that without Him you can do nothing. You can- 
not purchase eternal life, you cannot inherit it, in and 
of yourself you have no right to it. It is the gift of 
God through Jesus Christ. When once you have 
reached this position you are ready to begin life — not 
before. Then you stand where you can do your best. 
A writer has said: "A man who accepts heaven as a 
gift is full of divine enthusiasm." 

I am trying to deal with the roots of things, seek- 
ing to bring into view foundation principles. I ask 
you, therefore, just now to consider the root idea of 
one word which has often been repeated in this dis- 
course, the word enthusiasm. It is a derivative of a 
Greek verb meaning to be inspired, and the funda- 
mental idea of that word is suggested by the words 
in and God. To be inspired of Deity. Enthusiasm 
then is the fulness of God, and that is just the thought 
of the apostle in one place; "Being filled with all the 
fullness of God." "It is good to be zealously affected 
always in a good thing." It is good to be passion- 
ately exercised, with that passion which comes from 
the indwelling of the divine Spirit. At the time of 
the Savior's ascension the disciples were in a measure 
qualified for their work. They had been converted, 
they loved their Lord, they had received their com- 
mission to go out and proclaim the glad tidings. One 
thing only was lacking, and because of that lack they 
were like the engine, perfect in every part, but mo- 
tionless for want of fire. There came a time when 
they were endowed with power, when they were filled 
with the Holy Spirit. Then they went forth, and they 
were invincible. Before that they were weak as water, 
timid as children. The stoutest of them were ready 
to flee at sound of a maiden's sneer. Now they are 
unconquerable, and like the old guard of history, they 
can die but they can never surrender. The work of 
the introduction and establishment of Christianity was 
a task unparalleled in history, and because of the in- 
dwelling of the divine spirit their success was equally 
unparalleled. Their ardor knew no bounds, their per- 

70 



severance was limited only by death itself ,and their 
endurance of suffering for the sake of the cause they 
loved was exceeded only by that of the Man of sor- 
rows Himself. "They endured as seeing Him who 
was in visible." The zeal of the Lord's house con- 
sumed them. They knew no defeat because He for 
whom they toiled was in them and they in Him. They 
were enthused, filled with God. 

A young inventor spent every dollar he was worth 
in an experiment. For this folly, as it seemed, he 
was mercilessly ridiculed by the public press. With- 
out a penny in the world, with a sickly wife, and an 
illy furnished home, and popular feeling against him, 
the outlook was dark, indeed. We are told that he 
went into his chamber, and buried his face in his 
hands. At length, with a fiery heat flashing through 
his body, he stood erect. "It shall succeed. I'll make 
them understand." With this dogged determination 
he set to work, braving everything for six long years, 
till he achieved success, and the jeers of a fickle peo- 
ple were changed to praise. As he wrought under 
the inspiration of an earthly influence so the apostles, 
divinely inspired, went forth to their work, and the 
success achieved can never be repeated till the church 
of God once more opens their hearts to receive the 
influences of the Spirit. 

Have we stopped to reflect upon the influence which 
the young people of today will have upon the condi- 
tions under which the workers of the twentieth cen- 
tury shall perform their labors? As we stand in the 
waning shadows of our own country (1891), and com- 
pare our privileges with those of the people who lived 
at the beginning of the century we can but marvel at 
the wonders God hath wrought. But with all this 
gain as vantage ground what may we not hope for in 
the years to come. If the world shall stand so long 
may we not hope, before the twentieth century shall 
begin to wane, to see the saloon as much of an out- 
law as piracy now is on the high seas of the world? 
May we not hope that before another century of his- 

71 



tory is recorded it will be considered in public senti- 
ment as unseemly for a christian to use tobacco as it 
would now in this land for him to use intoxicating 
liquor as a beverage? For surely the liquor traffic 
and the tobacco habit have no place in an enlightened 
Christian civilization. Nor are these all the questions 
before us today. A whole swarm of difficult problems 
are already buzzing about our ears, and one of two 
things is sure to follow. Either they will bring us 
stores of honey, in their careful handling and solution, 
or, roughly dealt with, they will sting us unmercifully, 
if not to the death. Have we stopped to reflect that 
the whole trend of the nation's progress for the next 
hundred years will have been determined beyond recall 
during the first half of the century? That this is a 
fact all history and all analogy warrant us in believing. 
In the olden days of log cabins and fireplaces they used 
to put into position an immense back log that would 
last for days, before which they could pile the lighter 
material from hour to hour. Put this fact just stated, 
that the trend of the nation's history for the next cen- 
ury is to be determined within the next fifty years, 
into the fireplace of your heart. What material for 
the lasting fires of a genuine enthusiasm ! Though you 
who graduate this year from our institutions of learn- 
ing will not be permitted to take part in the nation's 
next centennial, yet you and those with you in the land 
of the same age, if permitted to live the allotted three 
score years and ten, will have the greater responsibility 
of putting into that celebration all its essential features 
of glory or of shame. I have somewhere seen the state- 
ment that in no country is the ideal side of life, what 
one may venture to call the heroic element in a public 
career, so ignored by the mass and repudiated by the 
leaders as in our own. The materialistic tendencies 
of the age are alarming. It should be your mission 
and your ambition, too, to prove to men that there is 
an ideal, a heroic side of life: that man does not live 
by bread alone, that it is not all of life to live, nor all 
of death to die. The cultured mind, if practical, must 

72 



always control the uncultured. It is for you there- 
fore, under God, to settle the most tremendous ques- 
tions that have ever engaged the human mind. You 
stand upon the summit of the generations and will 
have to deal with problems for which the world till 
now was unprepared. The world is now ready, and the 
task is yours. I am not speaking by poetic license, I 
am not dealing merely with poetic fancies, I would not 
bewilder you with glittering generalities; I speak the 
sober truth when I say to you that upon your shoulders 
press responsibilities such as no generation of young 
people were ever before called upon to carry. And 
by consequence there are within your grasp privileges 
and possibilties before unknown. Only by a clear un- 
derstanding of your work, and by means of the divine 
inbreathing which I have tried to emphasize can you 
bear these burdens and reap these rewards. 

Two or three years ago a prominent pastor in this 
country presented to a body of students this thought : 
'That the development of the moral and religious move- 
ments of the earth has been by epochs, and that every 
epoch was centered about a man and that the man 
was always a man of faith. And further, that the 
movements that await the achievements of *the life 
of faith will be reared, not in granite or marble, but in 
the souls of men, redeemed men; they will shine in 
galaxies of heavenly civilization/ I wish you to grasp 
this thought ,that during the next fifty years there 
will be epochs of development in the history of our 
nation, far reaching epochs that will affect not our- 
selves only, but the destiny of the race as well. And 
some of the young people of today will be the centers 
around which these epochs will crystalize. Perhaps 
some one who hears my voice will yet stand upon 
dizzy heights of attainment where nothing but the 
grace of God could have brought him, and nothing but 
the helping power of the Almighty can sustain. There 
is no question but that some men are worth more to 
the world than some other men. At a certain critical 
period of Israelitish warfare King David resolved him- 

73 



self to go upon the field with the army. At once the 
people cried out: "Thou shalt not go forth, for if we 
ilee away they will not care for us, neither if half of 
us die will they care for us, but now thou art worth 
ten thousand of us." Better lose ten thousand ordin- 
ary men than one David. It is said that Wellington 
considered Napoleon worth forty thousand men. An 
ancient general heard his men nursing their fears with 
thoughts of the greater numerical strength of the 
enemy. Drawing himself up before them he exclaim- 
ed : "And how many do you reckon me to be ?" Young 
men, young women, how many do you reckon your- 
selves to be in the conflict of the ages which is upon 
us ? I would not inflate you with any gasseous disten- 
tion of fictitious superiority, but I would rouse you to 
a sense of the opportnity within your reach, by the 
favor of God and dependence upon his strength. 

"Press on ! For it is Godlike to unloose 
The Spirit ,and forget yourself in thought: 
Bending a pinion for the deeper sky, 
And, in the very fetters of your flesh, 
Mating with the pure essences of heaven. 
Press on!" 

Your motto is a suggestive one : "Attempt not, or 
accomplish thoroughly." Better not begin at all than 
to undertake some important work in a listless, half- 
hearted way which will predetermine failure. Only 
the possession of a master passion will enable you to 
carry out the spirit of that motto. Undertake great 
things, throw your very being into your work, perse- 
vere with unflaging interest to the most thorough ac- 
complishment of your task, and your lives shall tell 
mightily for the glory of God and the good of human- 
ity. 



74 



THE GROWING TEMPLE—A HABITATION OF 
GOD. A STUDY IN SPIRITUAL ARCHITECTURE 

It happened one day that a band of explorers in an 
unknown land came upon a strange anomaly in house 
building. At first they supposed it to be a dwelling 
of somewhat unusual dimensions. The work had not 
yet progressed far enough to reveal fully the design of 
the builder. But the more they studied it, the more 
they were impressed by the scope of the plan, and the 
magnificence of the structure. The foundation was 
broad and massive and well laid. The material for 
the superstructure was of a peculiar nature, like and 
yet unlike that of the foundation. The stones were 
symmetrical, white and clear as Parian marble and 
placed in order upon the foundation with marvelous 
precision. The structure had some of the character- 
istics of a king's palace, and then again it reminded 
one of a stately cathedral. But a closer inspection 
revealed the greatest marvel of all. The foundation 
was seen to be alive, and to have the ability to pro- 
ject its own life and nature into the stones that were 
laid upon it ; so that they in turn lived, and were gifted 
to a certain degree with the power of transmuting 
other material into their own nature, and fashioning 
it into the building. Thus the walls were gradually 
but steadily rising from the foundation, growing rather 
than being built, and ever manifesting more and more 
the skill of the architect and superintendent. Where 
the work had sufficiently progressed the style of orna- 
mentation was seen to be beautiful in the extreme. 
Arches and entablatures resting upon stately pillars, 
gave the sense of stability, while gold and silver and 
precious gems of all hues shone resplendently on every 
hand. Such is the parable of God's spiritual temple 
as outlined in his Word. May the All-wise lead us in 

75 



a devout meditation upon the leading features of this 
habitation of God through the Spirit. 

1. As to the Foundation. Speaking through the 
Prophet Isaiah the Lord says: "Behold, I lay in Zion 
for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cor- 
ner stone, a sure foundation." Even so far back as 
Jacob, in his blessing upon his son Joseph, we find a 
reference to 'the stone of Israel/ The psalmist speaks 
of 'the stone which the builders rejected becoming the 
headstone of the corner/ and the Master quotes these 
words as applying to Himself. Peter adds, in his ser- 
mon on the day of Pentecost, that 'there is none other 
name under heaven, given among men, whereby we 
must be saved/ Paul declares that the Ephesians, 
converted to God, are resting upon the very same 
foundation as the apostles and prophets built upon, 
Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone/ 
And Peter, writing to the dispersion, speaks of Christ 
as a living stone, disallowed indeed of men but chosen 
of God ,and precious, upon which foundation the spirit- 
ual house is builded. The whole trend of Scripture 
teaching emphasizes the truth that out of Christ, and 
apart from Christ, we are nothing and can have noth- 
ing which can commend us to God. Others may at- 
tempt to build upon some other foundation, but 'their 
rock is not our rock, our enemies themselves being 
judges/ Christ is absolutely the only foundation for 
the individual christian as for the visible, spiritual 
house, which is growing unto a holy temple in the 
Lord. 

"On Christ the solid rock I stand, 
All other ground is sinking sand." 

2. As to the material for the Superstructure. In 
Pauls' first letter to the Corinthians, speaking particu- 
larly of those who assume to be laborers together with 
God upon this spiritual building, he suggests the pos- 
sibility of placing upon the true foundation a variety 
of material : wood, hay, stubble, as well as gold, silver, 
and precious stones. But he solemnly asserts that a 

76 



day is coming which will try the work of every builder 
for God. He himself has been busy laying the founda- 
tion, preaching Christ and Him crucified as the only 
hope of the sinner, the only foundation for a spiritual 
church. He has put very few stones in place in the 
visible church. Crispus and Gaius, and the household 
of Stephanus, are all that he recalls of the Corinthian 
church whom he has baptized. Let those who are 
giving all their energies to increasing the membership 
of the church take heed how they build. Not only is 
it important to have a sure foundation for the building 
but to use the right material for the superstructure. 
Only the most costly material should be placed upon 
a foundation of such transcendent value. Peter char- 
acterizes the material as including those who have 
come to Christ as the living stone, and by Him have 
themselves been made alive. Throughout the ministry 
of the apostles as recorded in the Acts we find no men- 
tion of additions to the Church save of such 'as were 
ordained to eternal life/ 'whose heart the Lord had 
opened/ so that they 'gladly received the Word/ This 
being the universal practice of the apostles in their 
work, we may well ask : How did they come to exercise 
such care in the choice of material? Surely, they must 
have received common direction from their common 
Lord, for Christ is not only foundation but architect 
and builder of His own church. 

In this connection let us notice those confessedly 
difficult words of the Master to Peter as recorded by 
Matthew, in answer to Peter's confession: "Thou art 
the Christ, the Son of the living God." "Blessed art 
thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hathi not re- 
vealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 
And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon 
this rock, I will build my church; and the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto 
thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatso- 
ever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be 
loosed in heaven." Just here it may be well to note 

77 



that the New Testament teaching gives us two aspects 
of this building of God : that of the invisible, mystical 
body of Christ, represented by the apostles as the out- 
growth of the ages, and only to be completed in the 
final consummation of all things ; and that of the vis- 
ible organization which Christ also called the church, 
and declared that he would build at some period later 
than his conversation with his disciples. In architect- 
ural phrase we may say that the ideal church ,the local 
church (if such could be found) which is built accord- 
ing to the plan of God, is a model of the larger, more 
perfect, spiritual, mystical temple; so that if we can 
rightly apprehend the constitution of the church we 
shall have no difficulty in determining the nature of 
that spiritual house, that holy temple, referred to by 
the apostles. As to the foundation laid, Jesus Christ : 
and the material used, souls made alive by Jesus Christ ; 
and the use to which the structure is put ,a habitation 
of God through the spirit; and the ultimate design, 
the praise of the glory of His grace. Now we say that 
if the human judgment of the material were infallible, 
then the visible, local church of Jesus Christ, and the 
invisible, universal spiritual building, the mystical 
body of Christ, would be identical. These reflections 
may help us as we turn our attention to a careful and 
prayerful study of the words of Christ under consid- 
eration. Note that Christ is here speaking of the super- 
strutcure, and not of the foundation of the building, 
which he proposes to construct ; the material which he 
will have placed upon the foundation already deter- 
mined from eternity. For the moment the founda- 
tion loses Himself in the builder. In His mind's eye 
is the church which He is to build in the near future, 
an institution not yet established in visible form, but 
when formed to be built, of course on the foundation of 
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the 
chief corner stone. Note that we are not here seeking 
to minimize the character of Christ, or curtail his work, 
but rather to enlarge our conception of Him in both 
directions, as we drop the thought of Him as the foun- 

78 



dation, and consider Him as the builder, the very 
architect and designer of his church, whose province 
;ilone it is to determine the kind of material which shall 
be used in the superstructure which shall be reared 
upon the Rock of Ages. With this view before us 
the papal dogma that Peter is the foundation of the 
church, and the idea very prevalent among Protest- 
ants that Christ intended to call attention to Himself 
as the foundation, are both seen to be equally at fault, 
and without sanction. Let us interpret His words 
from His own standpoint of vision. He is anticipat- 
ing the time when, through the apostles and succeed- 
ing workers He shall build His church, and He makes 
careful provision that His workmen may understand 
the kind of material to be used in the erection of the 
building. Concerning the foundation there can be no 
question, God has seen to that from eternity, but what 
about the material? Upon this question Christ is 
most explicit. When, at the beginning of the Mas- 
ter's ministry, Andrew brought to Him his brother 
Simon, Jesus said to him, Thou art Simon, son of Jona, 
thou shalt be called Peter." Not that he instantly 
changed his name. Here was the recognition of his 
earthly relationship to his brother, together with a 
manifest allusion to the sinful, wavering, unstable na 
ture which he had inherited as the son of Jona. At the 
same time there is a prophecy of a coming day when 
he shall have a spiritual apprehension of truth which 
shall revolutionize his old nature, causing him to be- 
come a new creature, firm, and unyielding in his con- 
victions of duty as the undergirding of the everlasting 
hills. Time passes on until Peter has met with this 
experience: light from above has streamed in upon 
his soul, and he understands the character of Jesus 
as never before. He has become partaker of the very 
life of the living stone ,the true foundation, and it is 
significant that at the very moment of Peter's public 
avowal of his faith Jesus says to him, "Thou art 
Peter." As much as to say : "I told thee once that thou 
shouldst one day be so changed as fitly to be called 

79 



a rock, and now the time has come. Thou art a rock." 
In order to a proper understanding of this passage 
we must not only have the same conception of the 
church which Jesus had at the moment, but the same 
conception of Peter. He is not now thinking of Peter 
as the son of Jona, in his earthly relationship, nor yet 
in his official relation to himself as an apostle; but 
rather in his new relation of sonship. The Father 
had spoken to him, and by the illumination of that 
hour he was forever changed from his former self. 
He had apprehended the truth as it was in Jesus and 
was henceforth to be under its domination. No longer 
the son of Jona, fickle and wavering and unreliable; 
but henceforth Peter, unyielding as the rock in his 
adherence to duty. And so the Master speaks to him 
as He never could have spoken to him in his unregen- 
erate state. To this effect he now addresses him: 
Simon, son of Jona, thou art rock. I will soon begin 
to build my church, and then I will place thee upon 
the foundation as a specimen of the material which 
I wish to have wrought into the building, and upon 
thee shall be placed others of like nature, regenerate 
men and women, and thus shall the walls of the spir- 
itual house gradually rise, fair as the marble from 
Paros, and garnished with gold and silver and all man- 
ler of precious gems." Peter was not the foundation, 
he was not even a part of the foundation. But when 
the master Builder, on the day of Pentecost would 
begin the erection of the visible church, Peter the 
regenerate, and his fellow disciples regenerate also, 
were laid upon the foundation, the first course of ma- 
sonry; and as rapidly as men and women came to a 
knowledge of the truth, and gladly received the Word, 
they were added, and thus the church grew from day 
to day. Dropping the figure employed, and present- 
ing the truth in catagorical form, Christ taught the 
absolute necessity of a regenerate membership in the 
organization and development of the church. As an- 
other writer has phrased it "All who are properly 
brought into Christ's church are seen here in the plan, 

80 



as ever after in the erection, to be experimental be- 
lievers, in whom, as in Peter and Paul and all the 
first Christians, Christ is divinely revealed." 

3. As To the Durability of the Building. 

Christ declares of the church built according to 
His plan; "The gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it" 

(a) There is no inherent weakness in a church 
thus built to render it vulnerable. Such a church 
must stand for all time, a specimen of spiritual archi- 
tecture, a spectacle to angels and to men. 

(b) There is no power in the spiritual world 
mightier than Jesus Christ. He is the foundation, the 
architect, the builder, the defender of His church; 
and as the great captain of our salvation He will 
care for His own until that Day. The church made 
up of living stones shall stand against all possible as- 
sault. Thus preserved by the laws of construction 
from the danger of disintegration, and defended by 
the grace of the Almighty from all possible attacks of 
the enemy, the church built by Jesus Christ shall 
stand throughout the ages, impregnable. 

"Hallelujah! life nor death, 
Powers above, nor powers beneath, 
Monarch's might, nor tyrant's doom, 
Things that are, nor things to come, 
Men nor angels ere shall part 
Christ's own church from Christ's own heart." 

But the practical realization of this ideal among 
men is faulty, through the errancy of human judg- 
ment. As we have already noted, the visible church 
is not the perfect model of the mystical body. Since 
so many of God's professed workmen put into the 
structure perishable material, as wood, hay and stub- 
ble, we may expect sooner or later to see a dilapidated 
building given over to ruin. The old saying that a 
Baptist church can never die was based upon our 

81 



acceptance of the law — spiritual stones for a spiritual 
building. Rotten material will work disaster in a Bap- 
tist church as surely as in any other. It is only of 
the spiritual house that the promise is given: "The 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 

4. As to the Self -Governing Power Entrusted to 
the Church. 

It becomes one to speak with modesty upon a pass- 
age which has puzzled the wisest and the most de- 
vout : "And I will give unto thee the keys of the king- 
dom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou 
shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." If 
what we have said be true of Christ's viewpoint of 
Peter as merely a specimen of the material He would 
have used in the building of His church, and not at all 
.as an apostle in his official capacity : then Christ could 
not have gone on to designate him individually as the 
chief of the apostles, to be entrusted as His vicegerent 
with the supreme authority of the kingdom of heaven 
among men. It thus becomes evident that there is 
no ground here for the papal dogma of the primacy of 
Peter. On the contrary, if we accept the idea that 
Christ had in his mind the concept of the ideal church, 
as a company of the regenerate, living only to carry 
out the will of the Holy Spirit, then all is clear. Not 
to Peter as an apostle, but to the church thus ideally 
constructed is given the keys, the symbol of authority; 
and in so far as its official acts are the expressed will 
of regenerate, Spirit-led souls, those acts are ratified 
in heaven. Again laying aside the figure, and assum- 
ing the form of catagorical statement, the supreme 
Head of the spiritual body delegates to the local 
church the right of self-government. Not to Peter 
in his official capacity, not to the Pope as Peter's suc- 
cessor, not to any hierarchical body of men, usurping 
the authority of Jesus Christ, and lording it over 
God's heritage: but to the individual, local church is 
given the right to govern its own affairs, ever keeping 

82 



in mind its own subjection to its supreme Head, Jesus 
Christ. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye 
are brethren." Quoting once more from a well-known 
author: "Such an organization its Head can wisely 
entrust with self-government. Its members are par- 
takers of the divine nature, inhabited by the divine 
spirit, and will be led by the Word and Spirit in their 
action; and hence our Lord closes His teaching here 
with the promise that when His building should have 
been erected as the visible seat of His reign, called 
the kingdom of heaven, He would give its keys to its 
o^n Petrine members — keys by which we admit and 
exclude, being, in the figurative style of the great 
Teacher, the symbol of government." By a subtle, 
though very natural, change of thought we have be- 
fore our mind's eye no longer a house merely, but a 
home, the habitation of God through the Spirit: and 
the people of God no longer so much a structural part 
of the building, as component parts of the family liv- 
ing in the home, enjoying all the sweet amenities and 
sharing all the responsibilities of the home life. The 
spiritual house is tenanted by the household of faith, 
managing all the minutae of the home life, presided 
over by the Holy Spirit as sole authority. And this 
household of faith executing its legitimate functions, 
receiving into and excluding from its fellowship ac- 
cording to the attractive or repellant forces of the 
inward life. 

5. As to the Gathering of Material. 

The command is to go into all the world. All na- 
tions are God's quarries, and true heralds of the gospel 
are His workmen ; and continually the material is being 
gathered, and placed upon the true foundation, and the 
building is steadily growing unto a holy temple in the 
Lord. What a mighty impulse to missionary effort 
in this thought! The structure of the spiritual house 
is composite. The Syrian, the Arabian, the Asiatic, 
the Ethiopean, the European, the Italian, the Anglo- 
Saxon, the dweller in the uttermost parts of the earth, 

83 



and the inhabitants of the islands of the sea shall all 
furnish their quota of material for the palace of the 
King. And soon the building shall be completed, mag- 
nificent and glorious enough to grace the streets of 
the new Jerusalem. Meanwhile every redeemed soul 
a living stone, every redeemed soul a quarryman for 
God ,a builder under direction of the master Builder. 
With what enthusiasm should we toil, "every one help- 
ing his neighbors, and every one saying to his neigh- 
bor, be of good courage!" 






84 



THE NEW AMERICA. 

In our discussion of this theme I shall use the term 
America to indicate the territory comprising the 
northern half of the American continent ; North Amer- 
ica, as distinguished from South America. Tn relation 
to government I shall have reference to the United 
States, the dominant power ; leaving out of the question 
altogether, both Canada on the North and Mexico on 
the Southwest. And at the very outset we may note 
that this definition is a characteristic of the New Amer- 
ica. When America was first discovered, and for event- 
ful years afterward, the United States was not on the 
map. The title to the territory was claimed by Eng- 
land, and disputed presently, not only by the colonists 
but by Spain and France. Since the landing of the Pil- 
grims on Plymouth Rock time enough has elapsed for 
the making of history, especially when we recall the 
speed at which men live in modern times. The time 
has already come when we must needs speak of the Old 
America in describing the New. 

For many years after the recognition of the United 
States government by other nations it was inconspicu- 
ous; not to be reckoned with particularly in shaping 
world policies by the dominant powers. A plucky little 
nation indeed, which had earned its right to a separate 
existence by its successful passage at arms with the 
mother country. But the wisest diplomats of those 
early days never dreamed of anything colossal in the 
way of power in the wilds of America. Ours is a herit- 
age provided for us by our fathers at infinite cost of 
labor, and hardship and sacrifice. The very first stages 
of the history of any people that achieves greatness 
are often of dramatic interest and power. Go back for 
a moment with me to an incident connected with the 
discovery of America by Columbus. The scene is laid 

85 



in the open sea of the broad Atlantic, as yet unexplor- 
ed, in 1492. A little fleet of three diminutive vessels, 
with only 126 souls all told. They have been sailing 
for months upon an unknown sea, and what appears 
to most of them a wild goose chase, if not a fool's er- 
rand. It is a company, you might almost say a rabble, 
of superstitious, uncultivated, undisciplined men. They 
had been upon the point of mutiny for days. Colum- 
bus is enthusiastic in his belief that if they pursue 
their course unchanged they will, ere long, reach land. 
While in this restless, mutinous condition, ready to 
catch at any augury suggestive of change, they discov- 
er the flight of a flock of parrots across the bow of 
the boats diagonally toward the southwest. This is at 
once taken, and insisted upon, as an omen, and the 
direction of the fleet is accordingly changed. The in- 
trepid navigator yields to the inevitable, and in due 
time the West Indies are sighted, and upon a later voy- 
age Columbus reaches the mainland of South America. 
That moment on shipboard when the flight of birds 
was leading the admiral to consider the question of 
changing his course, was one of the most critical 
periods in the history of modern civilization. As has 
been truly said: "Never had flight of birds more im- 
portant consequences." If Columbus had kept his orig- 
inal route he would have entered the warm current of 
the Gulf stream, have reached Florida, and thence per- 
haps have been carried to Cape Hatteras and Virginia. 
The result would probably have been to give the pres- 
ent United States a Roman Catholic, Spanish popula- 
tion, instead of a Protestant, English one; a circum- 
stance of inmeasurable importance. Thus the flight 
of birds, humanly speaking, determined the first set- 
tlers on the new continent, and its distribution be- 
tween the Latin and Germanic races." But from the 
viewpoint of the supernatural we may assert that the 
All-wise overruled the superstitions of men for the 
furtherance of his own plans; that it was really the 
hand of Providence which changed the course of Co- 
lumbus' fleet, and so determined the trend of a nation's 

86 



destiny. By a circumstance apparently so insignifi- 
cant the great explorer took possession of the South 
American continent in the name of the Roman Catholic 
potentates of Castile and Leon, and North America 
was left free for occupancy by Protestants. In the 
light of history it is a question of tremendous import 
whether a land is to be peopled by the Spanish or 
English, and whether that people shall be dominated 
by the Roman Catholic or the Protestant faith. 

But now another question arises. Shall the new 
world become merely the expansion of old England? 
So that in fact we shall have New England in Amer- 
ica? This might have been. Suppose, for instance, 
that the English had established their colonies and 
ruled them in such a way as not to have aroused the 
spirit of revolt ,and so have retained the loyalty of 
all their subjects on American soil, and then had 
adopted the policy of repression for other nations. 
How different then from the America of today ! 

Another possibility seemed more likely of fulfill- 
ment. Shall the new world become merely a repeti- 
tion of the old in the multiplicity of languages and 
forms of government? Shall all the nationalities of 
Europe as well as the British Isles transplant their 
languages and customs and forms of government, and 
found their dependencies on American soil? In such 
a case we should have had simply a new edition of 
Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, Austria, Russia, 
etc.: a transportation of the old to a wider sphere. 
This great land broken up into diminutive empires, 
and kingdoms, and principalities, and duchies and 
cantons. A new language to be learned at every stage 
of one's journey across the country. At the first it 
looked as if it might be so. The English Episcopalians 
of the higher class in Virginia, the Holland Dutch in 
New York and Pennsylvania, the Catholic French in 
Canada and along the great lakes, and also in Louis- 
iana and Northward, and the English puritans of the 
sturdy yeoman class in the vicinity of Plymouth Rock. 
A. good beginning for a polyglott people which would 

87 



have required the iron hand of a Bismarck to weld 
into unity. 

Another problem to be wrought out in America 
was that of religious liberty, but the history of the old 
world had conclusively proven that religious liberty 
cannot exist where the Roman Catholic church has 
sway. The two have ever been irreconcilable in prin- 
ciple. The absolute supremacy of the head of the 
church, the Pope, cannot exist in a land where every 
individual has the right to think according to his own 
pleasure on religious subjects. If America were des- 
tined to become the land of the religiously free, then, 
from the first it must be free from the yoke of Roman- 
ism. A part of the mission of Columbus was to make 
Roman Catholics of the people of those lands which he 
should discover. 

How essential then that the grip of Rome should 
be kept from this new world. We have seen how the 
danger was averted by deflecting the course of Co- 
lumbus' fleet just enough to the southwest to avoid 
the discovery of North America. 

But even this might not have availed if the French 
had been permitted to enter and gain possession in- 
stead of the Spanish ,for in essence Romanism is the 
same in whatever guise. During the early part of 
the seventeenth century a carefully concocted plan 
was laid_by the French to take possession of all the 
inland portion of the continent, confining the English 
puritans and aristocrats to a narrow strip along the 
Atlantic coast. To this end a line of forts was to be 
erected, extending the entire distance from Quebec 
on the north to New Orleans on the south. Many 
of these were built, and the fact that flourishing cities 
have since been built near the sites of these forts is 
proof of the strategic importance of the points select- 
ed. Of these may be mentioned Natchez, Vincennes, 
Peoria, Fort Wayne, Detroit, Ogdensburgh and Mon- 
treal. After holding this territory for a century the 
French ceded it to Spain by whom it was held for an- 

88 



other hundred years. So that for two hundred years 
by far the greater part of North America was held 
by Roman Catholic nations. And during all this time 
it remained practically a wilderness. At the beginning 
of the nineteenth century, when the English began 
to cross over the Alleghanies, the French Catholics of 
Canada sought to stem the tide of English western 
emigration, evidently desiring to keep ecclesiastical 
hold of the territory ,though they could no longer lay 
claim to it politically. Had the French allies of Eng- 
land been victorious in the war of 1812 the whole Mis- 
sissippi valley would probably have been under the 
control of the French Romanists to this day, as has 
been the case to so large an extent with Canada. The 
victory of Commodore Perry on Lake Erie in 1813 has 
a wonderful significance in view of this probability. 
Once more America was saved from immanent danger 
of the Papal yoke. 

The way to such a consummation had previously 
been providentially prepared by the sale of all this in- 
land territory known as Louisiana to the United States 
by Napoleon in 1803. By this sale, in order to spite 
a rival power, Napoleon all unwittingly, no doubt, se- 
cured for the United States the Protestant faith. 

What have we in America by the year 1820, two 
centuries after the landing of the Pilgrims? The new 
land is already beginning to be old. The United States 
has become fully established as the ruling power over 
the greater part of its territory. It has a recognized 
standing among the nations of the earth. The war 
of 1812 has finally settled the question with England, 
and she henceforth pays due respect to the authority 
and power of the government this side the water. It 
is also a time of domestic tranquility and peace. The 
first opportunity it has had for self valuation and de- 
velopment of resources. There is a growing conscious- 
ness of life and power. There is liberty, joy in free- 
dom from control of other nations, and a manifest 
disposition for the conquest of its new territory in the 
west. The people for ine most part are agricultural 

89 



.n their pursuits, quiet and unostentatious in their ways. 
Slavery is characteristic of the south, free labor in 
the north, with no disposition apparent to disturb ex- 
isting conditions. This is the America of 1820 to 
1860, its autonomy as a separate, independent govern- 
ment recognized since 1783, and its trend of progress 
as well as its general features permanently established, 
so far as man could foresee. The thirteen millions of 
her population settled down to a steady, peaceful de- 
velopment of its own. It was a growing giant, but as 
yet unconscious of its strength. The people wore 
homespun, they rode in ox-carts, they used the old flint 
lock guns, they carried their tinder boxes and their 
warming pans, they sat by the open fireside, they 
studied the Bible, and for recreation read Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's Progress, Baxter's Saint's Rest and Fox's 
Book of Martyrs. 

But forces were in operation which were destined 
to work a marvelous revolution, and constitute a New 
America almost before the Old America had found 
its place upon the map of the world. Soon after 1860 
came the attack upon Fort Sumpter, and that awful, 
fratricidal, four years war, which entailed such tre- 
mendous cost upon the entire country, and seemed to 
promise only irretrievable disaster for both North and 
South. Yet, when the din and smoke of battle had 
cleared away slavery was gone, and the recent years 
have revealed the overruling hand of Providence for 
the lasting good of the nation. 

Following the years of reconstruction came the years 
d expansion in many directions. In the line of in* 
vention and manufactures the lucifer match had al- 
ready superceded the tinder box and flint, the stove had 
taken the place of the warming pan and the fireplace, 
while the cotton gin had made cotton king in the South. 
The application of steam and electricity soon revolu- 
tionized our modes of travel and of labor. The time 
was when the Erie Canal was a great achievement, 
connecting the East with the then far West. Now 

90 



we have several trans-continental lines of railroad, 
running their de luxe limited trains at the average 
speed of thirty to forty miles an hour from the At- 
lantic seaboard to the Pacific ; furnishing en route all 
the luxuries of the best hotels. For local travel the 
ox-cart and the lumber wagon have given place in turn 
to the horse and carriage, the automobile and the air- 
ship. 

Irrigation is rapidly displacing the great American 
desert with thrifty farms, and waving grain fields and 
fruitful gardens. Immigration is peopling our vast 
domain at the rate of more than a million a year, so 
that the 13,000,000 of 1820 has become the 90,000,000 
of today. The stored wealth of the nation in mine and 
forest was scarcely dreamed of fifty years ago, and the 
man who had amassed a fortune of $10,000 was counted 
kin to Croesus; while today the silver kings, and the 
oil kings, and the lumber kings, and the coal barons, 
and the railroad magnates, and the princely financiers 
would cause the richest men of former times to appear 
poverty stricken in comparison. A generation ago an 
English writer said of America: "The new continent 
may be styled emphatically a land of promise. The 
present there derives its greatest importance from the 
germs it contains of a mighty future. It is this pros- 
pective greatness which lends an interest to the West- 
ern continent similar to that which the Eastern de- 
rives from its historical associations." Little did he 
think how soon his prophecy would be fulfilled. With- 
in the mature life time of many an American the erst- 
while, inconspicuous nation of recent origin and wilder- 
ness location has sprung to the position of equality 
with the foremost of the world powers of the earth, 
rich in every attribute of w r orldly greatness except the 
historical associations of the old nations, referred to 
above. This is the New America of which we speak: 
new indeed, for it has practically come into being in 
this form within the last fifty years. I want to say to 
you that the America of today seems to me no more 
like the America of my childhood than the chrysalis is 

91 



like the butterfly. I am in a new world, and America 
shares with the rest of the world its new experience. 
Our fathers did business without the telegraph. When 
once we could transmit our thought to distant parts 
with the speed of the lightning, we must also send our 
voice with the same speed, and the telephone succeed- 
ed the telegraph. Then we must be able to dispense 
with the wire as the medium of communication, and 
Marconi put the wireless system into our hands, and 
ships a thousand miles at sea may make known their 
danger and disseminate the news. Our fathers reaped 
their fields with the sickle or the cradle, and threshed 
with the flail. We start our machinery into the field 
of waving grain, and presto, change! Out of the 
other end of the machine drop biscuits or pancakes. 
Our fathers shipped their grain to market a hundred 
miles or more in wagons drawn by horses, and went 
on foot themselves, carrying a rail to pry the load 
out of the mud ; and then returned home with the pro- 
ceeds of their load in a few brown paper packages of 
groceries with perhaps a calico dress for mother. We 
haul ours in automobile trucks to the nearby railway 
station ,and dispose of it at prices which would have 
seemed fabulous in the early days. Our fathers had 
not learned to burn the midnight oil. If studious, they 
conned their lessons by the blaze of the pine knot upon 
the hearth, or the flickering light of a tallow dip, or 
the odorous, smoking, burning rag in a saucer of 
grease. And two candles in a room were a luxury not 
to be indulged in except upon state occasions. Now 
nothing satisfies us short of a sixteen power electric 
light, and several jets burning if we wish to maka 
• he room cheerful for guests. Our fathers and mothers 
made love to each other in the old fashioned way, were 
not ashamed to have their bans published in church, 
and when married settled down to a mutual life service 
for each other, providing a living by their own industry 
and thrift. Today the fond society mamma will not 
consider any young man eligible to her daughter's 
hand, whose assured income is not equal to $5,000 per 

92 



year. Thus they begin life in regal style, and if they 
presently conclude that they are troubled with incom- 
patibility of temper, the divorce mill will soon grind 
to powder the marital tie, and set them free. As a rule 
our fathers had respect for sacred things, and went to 
church and knew the truth when they heard it; and 
faithful preachers there were in those days, though 
they spoke in the cabins of the settlers, by the way- 
side or in the homely structures they dignified by the 
name of church. Now there are many people never 
found in church, and many others who go to the costly 
edifice only to hear some practical essay, or moral 
platitude or the latest fad in religion. As an old lady 
once said to me, not realizing how hard she was hitting 
the young preacher: "Times aint as they used to be. 
We used to have log meetin' houses, but we had grand 
preachers. But now it's turned around and we have 
grand meetin' houses and log preachers." Yet after 
all, on the whole the present conditions, materially, 
mentally, morally, aesthetically, in every way from a 
humanitarian standpoint, are better than the former 
days. I would rather live today than fifty years ago. 
1 like the New America better than the old. The ad- 
advantages are many, and the opportunity to make life 
a splendid success is far beyond that of any previous 
generation. The machinery of life is of far more deli- 
cate mechanism. 

Eut for that very reason, beware. To fail under 
present conditions is to make a more colossal failure 
than was ever before possible. The ship of state has 
cleared its moorings, and is now on the bounding bil- 
lows, under bright skies, with favoring winds. The old 
port is left far behind us, and our hearts beat strong 
with hope for a prosperous voyage. Yet the seaman 
would be derelict who should not prepare for storm be- 
cause of the present sunshine. All of the experience 
of the past warrants us in looking for foul weather 
at least a part of the way. Before our ship reaches her 
destination she is likely to meet with the ordinary 
amount of nautical adventure. We may drift into the 

93 



eqautorial region of calm?, and pass many a day with- 
out so much as a zepher or the flap of a sail. The dull 
monotony of ordinary routine will become irksome, 
and sad will it be if we have no inward power to take 
the place of favoring winds. Then again ,we may fall 
into a place where two seas meet and for a time seem 
to be at the mercy of opposing currents. Then per- 
chance a dreary storm when neither sun nor moon nor 
stars for many days appear, and the furious winds 
lash the sea into a seething mass from which it would 
seem we could never escape alive. And then the nar- 
row passage must be made between Scylla and Chary- 
bidis ; and many a reef and shoal must be shunned, and 
somewhere we are likely to pass very near to the en- 
chanted island where dwell the treacherous syrens. 
And as the headlands of prosperity heave into view 
we may still have a hard struggle to round the promen- 
tory, avoid the rocks, and ride at last safe in the harbor 
of abundant peace. Out on the ocean sailing is a mighty 
poetic idea, but the crew of the ship of state is sure 
to encounter plenty of prosaic work ere she comes into 
port. 

Dropping the figure, I may now proceed to mention 
some of the adverse forces and tendencies which even 
now are obstructing our way. 

a. The first I may speak of is non-religiousness. 
This is only a step removed from irreligion. As a na- 
tion we have a peculiar susceptibility in this direction. 
One of the fundamental principles of religious liberty 
is the equality of all religions before the law. We have 
no state religion, no established church. Neither Pope, 
nor prelate of any degree, can for a moment lord it 
over a citizen of the United States unless he so wills 
it. We have far more than toleration of different faiths. 
We have absolute freedom of conscience. There is no 
such thing known among us, so far as the law is con- 
cerned, as religious disabilities. Christian, or infidel, 
or Jew, it matters not, politically, in this free land of 
ours. But in this open hospitality to all religions, and 
no religion, on the part of the state lurks a menace to 

94 



our welfare as a nation. There is danger that the in- 
dividual citizen will come to think that because the 
state has no religion therefore he need have none, 
whereas he should be led to an opposite conclusion. The 
/ery fact that religion is left to the individual con- 
science makes it imperative that every citizen should 
have a conscience. We have seen how the hand of 
Providence has shaped our destiny thus far, and it 
would be a fatal mistake to ignore the care of Provi- 
dence for the future. Because the Christian life of the 
nation is individual and voluntary, and not statutory, 
that life ought to be all the more practical, and intense 
and wide spread. Yet indications to the contrary are 
by no means wanting, and if we be not very watchful 
a mighty tidal wave of irreligion will sweep over the 
land, doing untold harm by its devastations. Weak- 
ness of religious life, a limp conscience, together with 
Sunday labor and travel and recreation are all indica- 
tions of the trend of things in our day. In our recoil 
from Puritanism we have already reached indifferent- 
ism in religion, and are fast pressing on into the murky 
waters of pronounced irreligion. To continue indefin- 
itely in this direction can mean nothing short of wreck 
and ruin to our national life. There would not be left 
even boards and broken pieces enough to take us safe 
to land. Let departed nations of other days be our 
warning in this direction. If this should ever become 
other than a Christian nation in the broad sense of 
that term God will wipe it from the face of the earth, 
b. I mention next the dangers that beset the family 
life of the nation. The vital importance of the family 
as the unit of society can scarcely be over estimated 
in its bearing upon national stability and perpetuity. 
The practical loosening of the marital tie by easy di- 
vorce legislation is one of the most omenous signs of 
the times. There surely ought to be found some way, 
compatible with the sovereignty of the states, to frame 
a national law which should so restrict the causes for 
divcrce as to protect the family from the depredations 
of its foes. Uniformity of divorce laws throughout the 

95 



nation, together with greater strictness in their re- 
quirements and execution is one of the pressing de- 
mands of our time. 

Through the amalgamation of races there has risen 
in this land a new type of human life, embodying the 
most desirable traits of character of all the different 
types entering into its composition. Here is a most 
fascinating field of observation and experiment. Un- 
der the influence of the old fashioned morality most re- 
markable results have already been attained. This new 
type is already an assured fact. The typical American 

is neither English, nor Scotch, nor German, nor 
French ; but essentially American. From the many cur- 
rents of life that originally entered into their com- 
posite character we now have practically two ; the An- 
glo Saxon and the Norman. The typical American 
very evidently belongs to one or the other of these 
lines. But we may well believe that under proper 
physical and moral conditions this process of assimila- 
tion may continue until these two streams shall com- 
bine, and instead of the two varieties we shall have 
one thoroughly new type, American in the fullest sense. 
The Anglo Saxon and the Norman peculiarities absorb- 
ed and obliterated, while the strong characteristics of 
each shall stand out in bold relief. This is certainly an 
interesting problem in eugenics. But if the family be 
weakened or overthrown, if passion instead of principle 
prevail in the relations between the sexes, if the social 
evil be tolerated, and even sanctioned by law, if the 
immoralities of Mormonism under the guise of religion 
be allowed to cast their withering blight upon society ; 
then farewell, a long farewell to all our greatness. With 
the private, personal, religious views of any citizen, as 
we have seen, our government has no concern; but 
when vicious principles seek to screen themselves under 
the sacred name of religion, and lead men to commit 
overt acts tending directly to the subversion of govern- 
ment ,then it is time for the law to take cognizance of 
these acts, and in the majesty of its power mete out 
due punishment. Let it be freely admitted that it is 

96 



impossible to legislate men into morality, but let it also 
be clearly understood that in America we will not at- 
tempt to legislate infamy into respectability by throw- 
ing around the improper indulgence of human passion 
the sanction of law. In regard to this whole subject 
the trend of the day is in the wrong direction, and 
bespeaks great danger to the body politic. 

(c) A Third Danger Is Indifferentism in Politics. 

Of course we mean politics in the best sense. In 
a republic more than in a monarchy does the stability 
of the government depend upon the intelligent activity 
of its citizens in its behalf. Especially in a country 
like our own, where the sovereign people express their 
will at the ballot box, is it essential for them to have 
well-formed opinions, and then express those opinions 
in the only effective way; by the ballot. The charac- 
ter of a nation is the aggregate character of its peo- 
ple, and the law is the final expression of the people's 
will, through the representatives whom they have 
chosen. If a nation's code of laws, and the public 
acts and utterances of its leaders be high and noble, 
true to the highest interests of the citizen, and loyal 
to the behests of the supreme Ruler of nations, then 
we may expect length of days and prosperity there- 
with. A writer says very truly that the actual voters 
are the real people, "the sovereigns, the uncrowned 
kings who rule the nations." The ballot is: 

"A weapon that comes down as still 
As snowflakes fall upon the sod; 

But executes a freeman's will 
As lightning does the will of God." 

How great the danger, therefore, when a large 
number of the better class of people, those who would 
vote right if they voted, become indifferent, and re- 
main away from the polls. Not that all should neces- 
sarily vote the same party ticket; the various parties 
act as a salutory check, one upon the other. But when 
the line of cleavage is between the good and the bad, 

97 



and the good are indifferent and neglectful of their 
political responsibilities; and the bad are aggressive, 
as you may be sure they always are, then beware for 
there is danger of running upon the rocks. Some- 
times good men excuse themselves on the ground of 
the filthiness of politics. But, pray, how are the 
Augean stables to be cleaned if good men do not lend 
a hand? 

That it is possible for a man to retain his integrity 
in the performance of his political duties, if only he 
counts loyalty to conscience of more value than the 
emoluments of office, was long since demonstrated. 
Amidst all the brazen impurity of an Egyptian court 
Joseph kept his character unsullied, and in the long 
run also kept his office. Even in Babylon, though 
members of a subject people, Daniel and Nehemiah 
stood firm, and wrought faithfully and conscientiously. 
Brave, consistent, invulnerable in the direst straits, 
their characters shine all the more resplendently for 
the corruption of their surroundings. Temptations 
there are ,of course, in political life, but genuine char- 
acter can stand the ordeal. Let him who seeks office 
merely for the spoils think twice before he steps down 
into the muddy pool, for he will probably be badly 
smirched before he escapes. But the man who does 
not rate himself at a price, and who is called to posi- 
tions of political trust, may humbly accept the respon- 
sibility, and know that in serving his country well he 
may serve his God. Some one has put it in this way, 
that "we cannot more efficiently labor for the good 
of all men than by pledging heart, brain and hands 
to the service of keeping our country true to its mis- 
sion, obedient to its idea." One surely need not throw 
himself open to the charge of pessimism if he discovers 
in the signs of the times a tendency toward decline 
in patriotism. Service and not spoils is the aspiration 
of the true patriot, principle not party his motive to 
action, and statesmanship not politics the goal of his 
ambition. 

98 



(d) One other dangerous tendency of our times 
which I may mention is the trend of public thought 
and interest toward materialism. I do not mean now 
materialism of the speculative sort, as when we speak 
of a materilistic philosophy. A grosser form than 
that : the form that does not leave a man any time for 
thought even of a speculative kind, that scarcely de- 
igns to recognize the existence of mind or spirit, but 
is intent solely upon an accumulation of the things 
of this life. More land, more stocks, more banks, 
more property, more money! I venture the opinion 
that the average American of today measures every- 
thing by the dollar standard. Will it pay? is the ever 
recurring question. If there is money in it every- 
thing else may go. Time, talents, friends, mind, heart, 
character, life itself, everything is sacrificed, even 
God, in the mad race for gold, and the things that gold 
will buy. And because we are living in a day of un- 
paralleled material prosperity there is a vast deal of 
self -inflation, and of taking to our fill of the pleasures 
of sense. Fifty years ago the average Fourth of July 
orator made the eagle scream vociferously, but ordi- 
narily it was concerning the things that fostered the 
spirit of patriotism, and made the people more devoted 
to the flag. What your speaker is, as a man, in pa- 
triotic feeling and purpose is largely due to the influ- 
ence of those so-called spread eagle speeches at 
Fourth of July celebrations. But how is it today? 
We are so proud of our riches as a nation, that we 
have no care for the oldtime orations, and are in dan- 
ger of forgetting the flag itself. And we have so 
far stultified conscience in the massing of our millions 
that character is very largely a secondary considera- 
tion. We are a great people! We are one of the 
world powers! Potentially we are one of the richest 
nations on the face of the earth! "Behold this great 
Babylon which we have builded!" This is largely 
the spirit of the American people today. A number 
of years ago Bishop Penick drew a parallel between 
the building of the tower of Babel on the plain of 

99 



Shinar and the work which is now being done on the 
plains of America. "Because they wrought selfishly 
the tower of their pride became a ruin, and confusion 
of tongues brought dismay into their ranks. How 
is it with us? Just at the moment when it seemed 
as if our colossal greatness was to surpass that of all 
other nations, and be to our glory for all time ; behold, 
we began to fail to comprehend each other's meaning. 
Confusion of tongues had come upon us! The land- 
lord could not understand the tenant, the high could 
not understand the low, the rich the poor, the coal 
heaver the miner, the capitalist the laboring man. 
The Haymarket massacre of Chicago, the Homestead 
riot, and similar events are illustrations of my posi- 
tion." If this trend of things be continued only the 
direst results can follow. And all because men have 
become infatuated with material things. In all this 
conflict of reeling brain and maddened heart between 
man and man, class and class, operatives and operator 
there is not any great moral principle in the program. 
Parties are not striving for mastery on the platform of 
high moral questions, but upon questions of high or 
low tariff, protection or free trade. In our industrial 
and social and political life it is fast becoming Babel 
worse confounded and we may well pause to consider 
whereunto this will grow, and what the end of all this 
scramble after the things that are under the sun. 
Our fathers stood for principle against all odds, but 
we have so far degenerated that our battle seems little 
more than a fight between dogs for the possession of 
a bone. 

In conclusion we turn our face toward the future 
which is by no means without hope. If we would 
?heck the harmful influences of which I have spoken, 
retrieve what has already been lost ,and make the 
Drogress which is easily within our reach we shall need 
to have a new sense of the sovereignty of character. 
Not so much primarily, what a man has and does as 
what he is. • Not so much our recorded deeds as a na- 
tion as what we, the people, are in character, It is 

100 



said that in the palmy days of Greece she could boast 
of poets, and historians, and philosophers, and artists ; 
men of might in brain and character. But when they 
surrendered themselves to the enjoyment of the Isth- 
mian games their fall was near at hand. It surely 
would not be irrelevant to trace a connection between 
their love of play and the decadence of their national 
life. 

Rome, in her prime, had a sturdy stock, from which 
sprang those who added lustre to the nation by their 
patriotic devotion. But as character weakened the 
nation's greatness diminished. Italy, Ireland, France, 
Spain, Mexico, where are they today, and why are they 
so low in the scale ? Because for so long a time in- 
fluences have been at work tending to deterioration of 
character among the people. When the masses grovel 
in ignorance, and superstition, and vice, it is in vain 
to look for vigor in the body politic. A people enslav- 
ed in mind and spirit cannot be the rulers of a mighty 
nation. Far beyond the power of deeds to make them- 
selves remembered is the power of character to make 
itself felt. For character is regal. Take any of the 
great men of our own nation, and you may not be 
able to recall very much of what they did, but every 
child is affected by what they w 7 ere. There must be 
a virile, kingly character in a land where the people 
are sovereign. "We .the people," must reign by in- 
nerent worth if we reign at all. 

We need also a new type of patriotism, or, if you 
will, the old fashioned patriotism restored. A pa- 
triotism that will not, on the one hand, laud our nation 
to the skies on the general principle that it is traitor- 
ous to hint at anything wrong in the body politic ; nor 
on the other hand, close the eyes in sleepy indifference 
and unconcern as regards our personal responsibility 
for our country's welfare. But. the rather, a patrio- 
tism that burns with a steady flame, which sees with 
a clear eye, and watches with unflagging interest the 
program of national affairs. A patriotism which is the 
outgrowth of a loyal and loving heart, as ready to ut- 

101 



ter the warning note in time of danger, as with words 
of praise for duty well performed. A patriotism which 
will give us a higher ideal of politics, and lead to a 
conscientious performance of political duties. We need 
to realize that it is not true that every man has his 
price, and in our political life cease to act upon that 
principle. In this land the true patriot must believe 
chat America was designed by the Almighty for Amer- 
ican principles in government as distinguished from 
those of the old world. A writer has insisted that "it 
is the duty of every citizen of the United States, 
whether native or foreign born, to be or make them- 
selves thorough-going Americans. That is, to under- 
stand and love American institutions, to understand 
and love the American mission, to understand and love 
American liberty, and to use with a free and manly 
spirit the advantages of American citizenship to ad- 
vance the cause of civilization and religion." 
"America, so proud and free, 
I give my song, my heart to thee! 
Still let thy heaven-born symbol fly 
In every clime, neath every sky; 
Still rise a yeoman race, to stand 
For God and home and native land." 
We need to understand that the defence of the Amer- 
ican flag is the defence of the most advanced civiliza- 
tion, and the largest liberty, industrially, socially and 
religiously that has ever been the possession of any 
people. One of our army generals has said: "If it is 
ever a question whether you or the flag must perish, 
you will instantly choose that it shall not be the flag." 

"Then conquer we must, 

When our cause it is just, 

And this be our motto, 

In God is our trust ; 

And the star spangled banner 

In triumph shall wave 

O'er the land of the free, 

And the home of the brave," 

102 



Though I have painted a gloomy background I wish 
to say to you&hat the body of the picture is instinct 
with life and beauty. If only we are ready to recog- 
nize providential guidance, if only we become sufficient- 
ly aroused to withstand and overcome the evil ten- 
dencies of which I have spoken, and the uplifting in- 
fluences have full sway, and the dominant race on 
American soil be such as I have indicated is possible 
out of the elements now forming it, what tongue can 
describe the sublimity of our nation's greatness? If 
only our heads may once more recover their equilib- 
rium, so that we can bear meekly the honors of mag- 
nificent achievement, then shall the successes of the 
coming years have a grander sweep than ever in the 
past. 

To the young people who hear me let me speak a 
closing word. I w r ould not abate one jot of the import- 
ance of anything I have ever said in regard to the pos- 
sibilities of the present hour. No generation of the 
ages ever had like opportunities with yourselves. Those 
who now have the management of the ship of state will 
soon have finished their work, and it will be com- 
mitted to your hands. Be strong. Quit you like men. 
View in Christian light the duties of citizenship. In a 
broad way, in addition to the giving of the gospel to 
those who have it not, there is to be the recognition 
of the principles of christian citizenship, and the de- 
sire to lift yourself and others up to the measure of 
those principles. I would say to you with the beloved 
disciple : "It is the last time." The solemnity, the sub- 
limity, the glory, the responsibility, for weal or woe 
of the last days is upon us. The problems are great. 
Human intellect has reached its limit; divine wisdom 
jnly is equal to the task of the hour. And soon He 
will come whose right it is to reign. This is our stead- 
fast hope amidst all the depressing circumstances of 
life. Otherwise we might despair, but we are sure 
that He must reign until He hath put all enemies un- 
der His feet. Therefore we exultantly sing: 

103 



"Christ is coming! let creation 
Bid her groans and travail cease ; 
Let the glorious proclamation 
Hope restore and faith increase ; 
Christ is coming! 

Come, thou blessed Prince of Peace. 
Lo ! He comes, with clouds descending, 
Once for favored sinners slain; 
Thousand, thousand saints attending, 
Swell the triumph of his train; 

Hallelujah! 
God appears on earth to reign." 



104 



THE TEMPLE OF JUSTICE AND THE 
HOUSE OF GOD. 

Rom. 13:1-5. "Let every soul be subject (or in sub- 
jection) to the higher powers; for there is no power 
but of God; and the powers that be are ordained of 
God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, with- 
standeth the ordinance of God; and they that with- 
stand shall receive to themselves judgment. For rulers 
are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. And 
wouldst thou have no fear of the power? Do that 
which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same ; 
for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if 
thou do what is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the 
sword in vain ; for he is a minister of God, an avenger 
for wrath to him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must 
needs be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, 
but also for conscience sake." 

We have invited as our guests upon this occasion 
the mayor and council of the city, the judge and mem- 
bers of the bar, the board of commissioners, and all 
other officials of the county, who are exercising any 
function of civil law. We now bid you a hearty wel- 
come in the name of our common Lord. The positions 
of trust you severally occupy are honorable and re- 
spectable. The temporal welfare of the community is 
largely in your hands. We rejoice in the belief that 
many of you are already striving to do your work as 
the representatives of a government whose seat is in 
the heavens. We rejoice in the high tone of morality 
maintained, on the whole, even where there has been 
made no distinct avowal of obligation to the Almighty 
Sovereign. We repose confidence in you as a body of 
officials who are keepers of the laws you are set to 
maintain, and believe it to be your honest purpose to 
recognize the authority of the government you are 

105 



sworn to protect and sustain. If there be any to whom 
such meed of praise is not due, God knoweth ; and the 
day of reckoning will surely come. We trust that this 
hour spent together in the sanctuary may be of some 
value in binding more closely together those whose 
service is one for the common weal. Politics and re- 
ligion ought not to be divorced. The sacred and the 
secular differ, not so much as the terms might seem to 
indicate. Those who preach the gospel and those who 
maintain the law ought to be true yoke-fellows. Coun- 
cilmen, and judges, and lawyers, and commissioners, 
and public record keepers of every sort, and policemen, 
and Sunday school officials, and church deacons, and 
trustees and ministers, one and all ; if true to the high- 
est ideals, are helpers together for the benefit of their 
fellowman. So long as the world stands the house of 
God and the temple of justice and the prison must 
necessarily have an existence as the outward symbols 
of eternal truths. Happy for those who shall do their 
work in any department of this multifarious service so 
well, in simple dependence upon God's grace, that when 
they shall come to stand before the final court of ap- 
peals they may have honorable acquittal through the 
blood of the atonement. It is to emphasize the essen- 
tial unity of our work, and the equal need of all of 
divine wisdom and strength, and clemency as well, 
that I have called you together for this hour of public 
worship. May a holy awe fill our hearts as in the pres- 
ence of Jehovah, and may our minds be receptive to 
the truth. 

You know the theme upon which I wish to speak to 
you, "The Temple of Justice and the House of God, 
or Relations Between the Law and the Gospel." A word 
or two at the outset by way of definition. I do not use 
the word law in any technical sense, either civil or 
theological, but with a wide range of meaning, to in- 
clude all law, human as well as divine ; but having spe- 
cial reference to the statutes under which we live, and 
the authority which enforces them. By gospel I mean 
not any narrow conception, even though a true one; 
but that broader use of the word which includes our 

106 



relations as men to the deity under whose government 
we find ourselves. As we came from the hand of the 
Creator we were in possession of a two-fold nature; 
the one moral, looking to the performance of certain 
duties toward our f ellowmen ; the other spiritual, look- 
ing to our relations to the great God, not only for time 
but for eternity. Our very employments look two ways ; 
toward the secular, and toward the distinctively re- 
ligious. Our very thoughts are busied about two 
worlds, earth and heaven. Rightly apprehended there- 
fore we have, in the theme suggested, not one of specu- 
lative value merely, but rather one of thrilling interest, 
and practical moment: The Temple of Justice and 
the House of God; or relations between the Law and 
the Gospel. And all the more, it occurs to me, is this 
theme worthy of our consideration at this time because 
of the tendency of much of the thinking of the day ut- 
terly to divorce these two lines of our thought, these 
two phases of our work, these two parts of our being. 
I do not believe that I am going beyond the facts in 
saying that with very many there is no thought of any 
vital connection and relation between the court house 
and the meeting house. I have the impression that in 
the minds of a very large class of the community they 
stand as the symbols of two totally diverse and unre- 
lated lines of thought and conduct. Even more than 
this, that many a man who recognizes the value to 
himself and to the community of the temple of justice ; 
who believes in it, and counts it a necessity, and often 
visits it upon errands pertaining to his material and 
earthly interests; I say, many such esteem the House 
of God of no practical value whatever. They never visit 
it, it never enters their mind except as something en- 
tirely beyond the range of utility for practical men of 
the world. As a corrective of this wide-spread indif- 
ference to all for which the House of God stands as a 
type among those who are thoroughly in sympathy 
with all which is symboled by the temple of justice 
I wish to present a few thoughts for your considera- 
tion. 

107 



1. It does not always occur to men that all legiti- 
mate human law is of divine origin, yet such is the 
case. We have first the divine rule, then the human 
authority; first the edict of the Almighty, then the 
statutes of the state ; first the relations of men to their 
Sovereign, and then their relations to each other. Paul 
wrote to the Christians at Rome who so often had to 
smart under the exactions of Roman tyranny; and he 
counselled no insurrections, no rebellion, but rather 
submission to the existing order of things until a 
change should come to them in an orderly way. And 
the one reason which to the apostle is all-sufficient, is 
the fact of the divine origin of human authority. "Let 
every soul be in subjection to the higher powers; for 
there is no power but of God." The oath so often ad- 
ministered in the court of justice, what is it but a 
recognition of this supreme authority of which I am 
speaking, and an appeal to the Almighty to witness to 
the uprightness of our conduct. Take away this idea 
and men would swear to a lie as readily as they would 
tell a dream. I have no question but that the perjuries 
so often perpetrated upon the witness-stand are due 
to laxity of view upon this point. Just to the extent 
that the administration of an oath degenerates into a 
mere form, and the "So help me, God/' becomes a mere 
formula instead of a prayer, just to. that degree will 
false swearing increase in the land. Men must be held 
rigidly to the thought of their accountability to a 
divine sovereign who exercises supreme power. In 
other words, we must ever remember that all rightful 
human law is of divine origin. A writer, speaking of 
this upwards of three hundred years ago, says: "Of 
law there can be no less acknowledged than that her 
seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of 
the world. All things in heaven and earth do her hom- 
age. The very least as feeling her care, the greatest 
as not exempted from her power ; both angels and men 
and creatures, of what condition soever, though each in 
different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, 
admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy." 
What are the enactments of the statute book ? Simply 

108 



the concensus of public opinion along the lines indicat- 
ed. What are the crimes of the calender ? Simply the 
protest of the people against certain forms of conduct. 
But how came the people to be so largely in agreement 
in regard to the essential features of the moral code? 
The answer to this question takes us back of the 
statute book, back of the expressed will of the people 
to the foundation of all right legislation; the will of 
God. The real reason why there is such a body of civil 
law holding men to right living is because there is so 
much of the image of God still retained by humanity. 
There is a sense in which it is true that the voice of 
the people is the voice of God. 'The powers that be 
are ordained of God." 

2. It follows naturally from what has now been 
said that all human authority is delegated The pow- 
ers that be are simply the representatives of the court 
of heaven. Civil magistrates are nothing more than 
ministers plenipotentiary from the Majesty on high. 
They have nothing which they have not received, and 
therefore cannot boast themselves as if they had not 
received it. They are only stewards, in their depart- 
ment, of the manifold grace of God; and they must 
render to their sovereign an account of their steward- 
ship. The lawmakers of earth can go no further than 
to transcribe the will of the Lord in the matters con- 
cerning which they legislate. Going beyond this they 
become law-breakers instead of law-makers, and are 
amenable to God for infringment of compact. "Woe 
unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and write 
grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn 
away the needy from judgment, and to take away the 
right from the poor of my people." 

"Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with 
thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" 

3. If these points I have tried to indicate are really 
established, if it is true that there are no powers but 
of God, and that every soul should be in subjection to 
the higher powers; then, in a very real and positive 
sense it follows that the legislative department of the 

109 



government should be in subjection to the authority of 
the Almighty. Above the clamor of selfishness, and 
the impudent demands of iniquity, and the violence of 
rage should be heard the sonorous voice of Jehovah as- 
serting the right, and leading in the paths of rectitude. 
And as with the legislative so with the executive and 
the judicial. Laws should be made, and statutes en- 
forced, and decisions rendered in the fear of God, and 
the light of His will. Recognizing the existence of a 
great white throne, with an occupant who holds the 
reins of an absolute sway, there can be no room in the 
affairs of state for anything but the strictest integrity, 
and the most impartial justice. When men are accus- 
tomed to go from the house of God to the temple of 
justice, understanding the proper relations between 
the law and the gospel; when men learn to mix re- 
ligion and politics in due proportion, neither being 
afraid of the one nor absorbed in the other; then we 
shall see trickery and jobbery of every sort hide their 
unsightly heads in the darkness of oblivion. Then will 
the practices of sand lot politicians have no place, and 
bribery be relegated to eternal infamy. What has al- 
ready been accomplished along these lines is only a 
prophecy of what shall yet be done as the principles of 
the gospel take more vital hold upon the conduct of 
thinking men. There came a time when men spoke the 
language of law along the line of the divine mind, and 
slavery was forever swept away from our beloved land. 
There came a time when England heard the voice of 
God above the din of the East India Company, and her 
heathen ports were opened to the heralds of the Prince 
of peace. The same divine will is coming to be felt in 
our own country in regard to that foul cancer upon 
the body politic in Utah and adjoining states and ter- 
ritories, and as soon as that will is recognized and em- 
bodied in the civil statute Mormonism will quiver in 
the throes of dissolution. By and by, sooner perhaps 
than some of us think, men will formulate the mind 
of the Eternal in regard to the traffic in intoxicating 
liquors, and whenever the law speaks thus the traffic 
is doomed. The world is slowly learning to realize that 

110 



legislation along any of these great lines of human con- 
duct contrary to the enactments of that fiery law which 
was issued from Sinai is usurpation of authority, un- 
warranted on the part of men, and sure to result in a 
curse instead of a blessing. 

4. There may have floated in the heathen mind 
the idea of justice, but it was left to Christianity to 
work out the problem, and make the possibility a 
reality through the intervention and application of 
moral forces of which otherwise the world would have 
known nothing. The gospel tells not only of law but 
of a lawgiver, and such a lawgiver as commends him- 
self by his acts, not only to our admiration, but to 
our heartiest devotion. The gospel inculcates love for 
law as the emanation from a Sovereign infinitely love- 
able in every respect, and, so, infinitely worthy of our 
completest submission to His rule. Let me say to you 
that the temple of justice stands today, and the scales 
are evenly balanced because of the influences favorable 
to law that go forth from the house of God. You will 
surely agree with me when I say that your arduous 
tasks in connection with the application and enforce- 
ment of law are far easier than they would be were 
there no index fingers pointing skyward from buildings 
dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. Religion is 
not inimical to law and order. On the contrary, the 
church fosters the spirit of reverence for rightful au- 
thority. Anarchists and socialists of the baser sort do 
not rendezvous in earthly sanctuaries. Churches of 
Bible Christians are not hot beds of rebellion. Sunday 
schools do not as a rule turn out accomplished villains 
and rogues and cut-throats. The relations between the 
law- and the gospel are relations of mutual friendliness 
and helpfulness. Urged to it by Christian sentiment 
civil law declares in favor of religious liberty, and the 
temple of justice throws around the house of God the 
aegis of its protection. The church, in turn, kindles en- 
thusiasm for rightful authority, and most heartily 
echoes the sentiment of true statesmanship ; "The laws 
and the constitution must and shall be preserved." And 

111 



to aid in the enforcement of law it brings into use a 
force which could emanate from do other source, viz: 
Obedience to law as the expressed will of a beloved and 
supreme sovereign. 

5. Since there is no power but of God, and the pow- 
ers that be an ordained of God, it naturally follows, 
as the text suggests, that we should be in subjection 
not only account of the wrath; that is, through fear of 
punishment, but also and especially for conscience 
sake; because it is right. It has been truly said that 
conscience has to do with those things which I know 
in common with another; and that other with whom 
I know things in common is God. When, therefore, I 
do a thing from the impulse of an enlightened con- 
science I do it because of the knowledge I have in com- 
mon with God that it is the right thing to do; and 
more than that, if I am a Christian, because I love to 
do that which I know to be in harmony with the divine 
will. Knowing that to be a law-abiding citizen is to act 
in a manner pleasing to God, I gladly take that course 
myself, and seek to induce others to do likewise. A 
whole body of Christians in a community acting in this 
way, there comes to be a strong sentiment in favor of 
obedience to law, and against lawlessness. Speaking 
of this subtle, pervasive influence going out from the 
church in favor of right living, a writer says : "Besides 
the great blessings which it bestows upon those who 
heartily embrace it, Christianity creates an atmos- 
phere that pervades all social and civil and political re- 
lations and affairs. Each individual Christian, and 
each Christian church and association becoms the cen- 
tre of a sphere of influence that extends far beyond it- 
self, quickening, ennobling, purifying everything it 

touches Hence in every community the 

education, the art, the literature, even the popular 
amusements, will of necessity testify to its presence 
and influence, and the secular societies of men cannot 
escape its all prevading spirit." These words help to 
emphasize the point I am now making, that the house 
of God surrounds the temple of justice with an atmos- 
phere which is helpful to the administration of law. 

112 



The more the people of the community are impressed 
with the thought of obedience for conscience' sake, the 
easier it will be to ferret out and punish crime, and 
the more respect there will be for the wholesome re- 
straints of the civil statutes. The great founder of 
Christianity was himself the personification of the 
spirit of obedience to rightful authority. He says of 
himself: "I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. . . . 
Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall 
in no wise, pass from the law till all be fulfilled." He 
would rather die than deviate a hair's breadth from the 
path of rectitude. Acting thus himself, those who 
were in sympathy with him walked in the same atmos- 
phere, and came to act from the same motives; and 
this spirit of submission to rightful authority traces 
the history of men as with a thread of light wherever 
the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached. 

6. In the line of thought herein suggested we have 
the solution of that perplexing question of the relation 
between church and state. Not by complete control of 
everything secular by the church, and the subordina- 
tion of the temporal power to further the plans of a 
spiritual hierarchy; neither by a coordination of 
forces, if we may so speak, as in the case of establish- 
ed churches; nor by such a total severance of things 
secular and religious as is contemplated in the theories 
of some would-be reformers of the present day in our 
own land, who ignore religion and pass it by as a mat- 
ter of no possible concern. But rather by such an ar- 
rangement as suggests itself in the words of that Mas- 
ter of statesmanship of the first century of the Chris- 
tian era ; Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son. Ques- 
tioned upon this point he said : "Render therefore unto 
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
things that are God's." Allowing the secular things 
their proper position and due measure of importance, 
and granting to every man the utmost liberty of opin- 
ion in matters of religion, let the gospel work its way, 
as men are able to receive it, upon its merits. Let the 
church go on teaching the supremacy of the divine law, 
and its proper place at the foundation of all human 

113 



law to as many as are ready to come under the reach 
of its influence. Let the proper limitations of all hu- 
man legislation be emphatically shown on all fitting 
occasions ,as we have tried to point out; that men 
have no right to transgress any mandate of Jehovah 
in the laws which they enact. Above all, let the house 
of God shine respiendently in the glory of a law-giver 
permanently present among his people ,the object of 
their worship. I say, let these principles be taught and 
practiced, and let the representatives of the state walk 
in an atmosphere thus charged with the powers of the 
world to come ; and we need not fear but that the rela- 
tions of the law and the gospel will mutually adjust 
themselve to each other, and the temple of jutice will 
be like a moon to reflect the light thrown on it by the 
house of God. 

7. It must often have occurred to you that there is 
need of something to go beyond the law, and to do for 
men what the law is unable to perform. One need have 
but very little experience in this world to learn that 
law of itself can never make or keep men good. How 
often it is said of a prisoner: 'He is an old offender.' 
Long periods under sentence in our penal institutions 
does not take away the love of wrong doing. A finger 
board pointing in the right direction does not insure 
the strength necessary for the journey. The law can 
point out the path of duty, but can furnish neither the 
impulse nor the strength for its performance. This is 
true of civil law, and much more is it true of the divine 
law, because of the superior excellence of that law. 
Now this deficiency and weakness of the law it is the 
province of the gospel to meet. As the apostle says 
elsewhere: "For what the law could not do in that it 
was weak through the flesh, God sending His own son 
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sins, condemned 
sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law 
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but 
after the Spirit." Thus the law becomes our school- 
master, to bring us to Christ, that we might be saved 
from wrath through Him. I have had men of the world 
acknowledge to me their sense of failure in the con- 

114 



flict of life. They were conscious of battling with a 
superior foe, before whom they were continually yield- 
ing against their will. They knew the right, but pur- 
sued the wrong. This deficiency is met, gloriously met 
in the gospel. So that the Christian warrior can ex- 
claim: "I can do all things through Christ which 
strengtheneth me." 'They that are for us are more 
than all they that can be against us." 

8. The final thought I have to present to you is this, 
that since the law and the gospel are thus intimately 
related, the gospel makes its appeal to all the most 
virile elements of our nature.. Boys wish to become 
men as quickly as possible ,and men of honor wish to 
become possessed of true manhod ; that is, to be manly 
men. This worthy ambition is sometimes appealed to 
for very unworthy ends by very unmanly men. None 
can have failed to notice that advertisement of a cer- 
tain brand of cigar prominently placed on our bill- 
boards in so many places : "I am for men." And doubt- 
less all unconsciously many a man smokes that cigar 
and imagines himself because of it to resemble more 
closely that fine specimen of manhood on the billboard. 
But when men bring to you the gospel in the breadth 
of its scope, they come with no seductive poison to 
steal away your manhood, with no alluring temptation 
to an indulgence which will sap the strength of your 
life, and leave you deceived and disappointed, less a 
man than before. The gospel may truly and confident- 
ly declare: "I am for men." "Doth not wisdom cry? 
and understanding put forth her voice ? . . . Unto 
you, men, I call ; and my voice is to the sons of men. 
. . . . Hear, for I will speak of excellent things; 
and the opening of my lips shall be right things. 
. . . . All the words of my mouth are in right- 
eousness; there is nothing forward or perverse in 
them By me kings reign, and princes de- 
cree justice." More and more are those interested in 
the gospel coming to see that this argument of the 
essential manliness of the Christian life may be truth- 
fully used. A man who has had remarkable influence 

115 



over men, in speaking of the things which most appeal 
to men, recently said: "The heroic, the militant, that 
iron stubbornness of resistance which denotes strength 
battling unto blood, truth in its larger and logical as- 
pects, every-day-ness and common sense in high and 
low things ; these attract the masculine mind, influence 
its immigination and compel its attention." And then 
he indicates that the gospel makes its strongest ap- 
peal to these elements of manhood. Would you be men, 
then, in the strongest sense of the word ? Seek not to 
live apart from the principles and influences symboliz- 
ed by the house of God, out by regular and frequent 
attendance upon the sanctuary, and the fullest sur- 
render of your being to the influences which emanate 
therefrom, seek to realize in your own character the 
ideal of the Man of Nazareth. 

"In the still air the music lies unheard ; 
In the rough marble beauty hides unseen; 
To make the music and the beauty needs 
The master's touch, the sculptor's chisel keen. 

Great Master, touch us with thy skillful hand : 
Let not the music that is in us die ! 
Great Sculptor, hew and polish us; nor let, 
Hidden and lost, thy form within us lie! 

Spare not the stroke ! do with us as thou wilt ! 
Let there be naught unfinished, broken, marred ; 
Complete thy purpose, that we may become 
Thy perfect image, thou our God and Lord." 



116 



The Symbolism of the Sealed Book. 

In our study of the Revelation we follow the inter- 
pretation which considers the book consecutive proph- 
ecy throughout. After the preface ,and the wonderful 
vision of the glorified Lord in the midst of His churches 
by the Spirit, the letters to the seven churches follow. 
These are bona fide letters sent to actually existing 
churches, for their encouragement and warning in the 
circumstances in which they are placed; and in so far 
they may be treated historically. But these seven 
churches (mark the perfect member) are selected with 
great care; such churches as have the characteristics 
which shall predominate in successive ages throughout 
the history of the church, from the days of the Revela- 
tor to the end of the age ; taking the churches consecu- 
tively in the order in which they are mentioned. Thus 
in a broad way we have a prophecy of the fortunes 
of the church until Christ shall come again. The first 
section of the book closes with the third chapter with 
a description of the Laodicean church in its nauseating 
lukewarmness, indicating the condition of professed 
Christianity in its general features when our Lord 
shall come. How vividly the conditions remind us of 
the words of the Master, in speaking of his second 
coming: "When the Lord cometh shall he find faith on 
the earth ?" Oh yes! the Lord knoweth his own. 
There is a church, the mystical body, against which 
the gates of hell shall not prevail, but the great, un- 
wieldy, worldly, self -sufficient ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion shall be rejected. "I will spue thee out of my 
mouth." Thus ends the vision of the first dispensa- 
tion. 

With the fourth chapter is the beginning of a new 
dispensation: a revelation of "things which shall be 
hereafter/ 'that is, after the prophecies of the preced- 

117 



ing chapters have been fulfilled. With the beginning 
of the first vision, relating to the present dispensation, 
the Revelator beholds the glorified Lord in the midst 
of the golden candlesticks. He fulfills his word: "Lo, 
I am with you to the end of the age." Now we have 
the beginning of a new dispensation, which will com- 
plete the mediatorial work of Christ, and result in all 
things being delivered up into the hands of the Father, 
that God may be all in all. While the work of Christ 
is continued, everything centres about Jehovah. It is 
fitting, therefore, that the theophany at the outset 
should be different, revealing the Almighty in His sov- 
ereign power. So John is caught up into heaven, and 
is given a vision of things there transpiring in relation 
to the earth. The throne of the Eternal is being placed 
in position in preparation for a new series of events 
which shall include the heavens as well as the earth. 
Around the throne, seated upon lesser thrones, we 
behold the church, clothed in white raiment, with 
crowns of gold. How came they here? The last we 
saw of them they were on the earth, as sheep in the 
midst of wolves, amidst the buff etings of an unfriendly 
world ,and well nigh hidden in the pretentious glamour 
of an apostate ecclesiasticism. The prophecy of Paul 
has meanwhile been fulfilled. Christ has appeared for 
his own, and those who died in faith have heard his 
voice and come forth with their resurrection bodies, 
and the living saints hare been instantly changed, re- 
ceiving their resurrection bodies without passing 
through the portals of the grave ;and, all together, they 
have been caught up to meet the Lord in the air. The 
seer beholds them after they are seated upon their 
thrones of power. It is the rapture of the saints, the 
first resurrection, which we are thus taught shall occur 
at the very beginning of the new age. Since his people 
are to reign with Christ, we behold them already en- 
throned in preparation for the august occurrences of 
the judgment day. And now, while Jehovah sits upon 
the newly placed throne, which is not the throne of 
judgment but of divine sovereignty, the church hears 

118 



the call to solemn adoration of Deity. The song of cre- 
ation fills the air with melody, while they prostrate 
themselves, and cast their crowns before the throne: 
"Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive 
the glory, and the honor, and the power ; for thou didst 
create all things, and because of thy will they were 
and were created." Thus ends the first part of this 
vision of the things which are to follow immediately 
upon the close of the present dispensation. The sub- 
lime pageant of the raptured church acknowledging the 
sovereignty of Jehovah, and rendering Him the glory 
due unto His name. 

We are now prepared to consider the second part of 
this heavenly vision. First, note the things seen, and 
then their significance. 

The seer beholds a sealed book in the hand of Je- 
hovah. Whatever is signified is his rightful possession. 
The book is written within and without, and sealed 
with seven seals. Again we cannot but remark the 
perfect number. The voice of an angel reverberates 
through the universe, calling for some one to come and 
loose the seals; and no one of all created intelligences 
in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, was able. 
A solemn hush pervades all space, until the tenseness 
of the awful moment seems almost beyond human 
endurance, and the seer breaks out in uncontrolable 
grief. Everything indicates a most crucial hour. No 
man worthy! No man able! The tension is relieved 
only when one of the elders declares the Lion of the 
tribe of Judah, the Root of David, to be equal to the 
emergency. As the seer dries his tears he beholds 
a Lamb standing in the very inmost center of that won- 
derful panorama. As if it had been slain, and yet 
alive, with power of will and action. He approaches 
the throne, and takes the sealed book from the hand 
that holds it. And when the book is delivered into 
His hand another song rends the heavens, the like of 
which had never been heard, a new song, the song of 
a complete redemption about to be realized. First, an 
outburst of praise from the church universal: "Thou 

119 



art worthy to take the book, and to loose the seals 
thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to 
God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, 
and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our 
God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the 
earth." Then, the mighty chorus of the angels : "Wor- 
thy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
and blessing." And all these voices supported by the 
glad acclaim of the sentient universe; "Blessing, and 
honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever." 
In pathos, in sustained dignity, in majestic splendor, 
and. regal sublimity, where is there a parallel to this 
vision? Surely it must have a significance equally in- 
comparable. We turn, therefore, to its intrepretation 
with a sense of reverential awe, realizing that we are 
dealing with the deep things of God. Redemption is 
the key word, and the sealed book the key figure. With 
a proper understanding of these two terms, all the 
rest will come into harmony. We may find our clew 
in the ancient law for the redemption of forfeited in- 
heritances. It was the privilege of the nearest of 
kin to redeem property which had become estranged 
for any cause. If he was willing to undertake the task 
he paid the price and two deeds were made out, the 
one open and the other sealed. In these legal docu- 
ments were set forth in detail the conditions of the re- 
demption, together with the amount paid for the 
property. Upon the outside of the sealed roll were 
affixed the names of the witnesses of the transaction. 
When all these details had been arranged, then the 
redeemer of the forfeited inheritance had full legal 
authority to dispossess whatever occupants might be 
holding the property, with right to use as much force 
as necessary to accomplish the task. This he might 
do at once, or at any future time which might suit 
his convenience. The redemption certainly could not 
be considered complete so long as the estate remained 
in alien hands. It thus becomes evident that the re- 

120 



deemer's task was two-fold ; first to pay the price, and 
then to take actual possession. All this has its paral- 
lel in the redemption of the world. The divine Sov- 
ereign, in whom alone rests absolute title, gave to man 
an inheritance of great value. But man forfeited his 
inheritance, and the prince of the power of the air, 
the spirit that now worketh in the children of dis- 
obedience, is now the God of this world, and is con- 
tinually using his power to the detriment of human- 
ity ,and men are led captive by him at his will. Two 
thonsand years ago Christ, our Elder Brother, under- 
took the work of redemption, and accomplished the 
first part of his task; paying the price, even his own 
life blood, and receiving adequate title to the forfeited 
inheritance. He was the only one in all the universe 
competent for such a service. But the second part of 
his redemptive work, the dispossession of the usurper, 
and the actual possession of the inheritance, still waits. 
We have rejoiced in the redemption accomplished on 
Calvary, in the shedding of Jesus' blood, but for the 
most part we have overlooked the other part of the Re- 
deemer's task, the redemption of the purchased pos- 
session from the power of the adversary. Or we have 
supposed that upon ourselves devolved the gigantic 
task of dispossessing the usurper, since Christ has 
given us a clear title by the shedding of His blood. I 
believe the vision we are considering was designed to 
give us the assurance that our Redeemer having paid 
the price, will take possession of His inheritance. The 
sealed book is the symbol of His title and right, and 
His taking it in His hand indicates that at the time 
suggested by the vision, immediately at the close of 
the present dispensation, He will enter upon this sec- 
ond part of His redemptive work. When Christ shall 
come again and it will be for this very purpose. First 
coming secretly for His people, gathering them to 
Himself, that they may be kept from the tribulation 
which is to follow; and then coming with His people 
for a personal conquest of the world unto himself in 
a reign of righteousness. The opening seals reveal the 

12X 



successive stages of the progress of the King in his 
work of judgment on the earth, until he shall have 
conquered a peace which shall be world-wide for a 
thousand years, and then after a brief interval of 
mutiny, the last enemy shall be destroyed, and the for- 
feited inheritance shall be eternally free. This is the 
divine program for the ages, the precious hope held 
out before us, while as yet we groan within ourselves, 
waiting for the adoption, even the redemption of our 
body. Our Lord Himself foretold in significent lan- 
guage the troublous nature of the latter days: "men's 
hearts failing them for fear, because of the things 
coming upon the earth." But he adds: "When these 
things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up 
your heads; for your redemption draweth night." Is 
it because we have forgotten this jubilant word that 
the cry of pessimism is so often raised when the truth 
is declared concerning the latter days? In view of 
this great truth, that one important part of the Re- 
deemer's work is still in the future, we need to revise 
much of our current thought to bring it into harmony 
therewith. Universal peace will never be ushered in by 
deliverances from the Hague. The liquor traffic, and 
kindred evils, will never be banished by legal enact- 
ment. The science of eugenics will never eradicate 
evil from the human heart. According to the scrip- 
tures the most perilous times in all human history 
are ahead of us, in connection with the coming of the 
king. Nevertheless, we who believe are to walk with 
jubilant tread, not because of the evil manifest, but 
because the manifest evil is the sure precursor of ap- 
proaching redemption. The millenium is not to be 
ushered in by the gradual development of the good 
seed of the kingdom, but by the reign of the king. We 
often hear it stated with great vehemance that the gi- 
gantic task before the church is the conversion of the 
world and the establishment of the kingdom of God. 
The Word declares, rather, that it is our business to 
preach the gospel among all nations for a witness, that 
out of the world may be gathered a people to the praise 

122 



of the glory of God's grace, and then shall the end 
come. Then shall He whose right it is take posses- 
sion of the forfeited inheritance ,and the kingdoms of 
this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord. To 
correct our thinking in these particulars is not to fill 
the heart with fear, and to paralyze effort. On the 
contrary, here is the sure ground for hope, and the 
greatest incentive to labor. It is time to redouble our 
diligence, lest coming suddenly he find us sleeping. It 
is time to sing Coronation, and the Jubilate and the 
Gloria, for the day of the Lord is at hand. Presently 
the Redeemer shall loose the seals of the title deed 
of His inheritance, and the conquests of grace shall 
be followed by the conquests of the King, until he hath 
put all enemies under his feet. Hallelujah. 



1?* 



THE VOICE OF THE SIREN. 

Prov. 7:21. "With her much fair speech she causeth 
him to yield." 

According to mythology two maidens occupied an 
island in mid-ocean ,and sang so beautifuly as to cause 
those who were sailing by to forget home and every- 
thing pertaining to it, and to abide with them until 
they perished of hunger. The strand was said to be 
strewn with the whitening bones of their victims. La- 
ter mythology speaks of three sirens: one to play on 
the lyre ,another on the pipes, while the third sang. In 
modern society life there are four, not mythical but 
actual sirens, that seek to win the unwary to their 
own destruction. One causes the wine to sparkle in 
the cup, a second wields the wand of chance, a third 
is queen of the Thespian art ,and a fourth joins music 
and motion in most entrancing witchery. 

Dropping the figure, there are four institutions of 
modern society which, on account of the attention they 
claim and the influence they exert, demand the 
thoughtful consideration of every lover of his kind, 
and mark you, I am speaking of each of these as an 
institution, not of any isolated act in connection with 
any one of them. The moderate indulgence in a glass 
of wine, or a game of cards at a social gathering are 
paii and parcel of the institutions which are leading 
their thousands annually to the awful destiny of the 
drunkard and the gambler. The occasional exhibition 
of Shakesperean drama and the respectable parlor 
dance are but the beginning of the paths that have led 
multitudes onward to their own moral and spiritual 
debasement and ruin. That is an awful picture pre- 
sented by Solomon in the chapter from which the text 
is taken. Let us meditate upon it that we may be 

124 



warned by it. "For at the window of my house I look- 
ed through my casement, and behold among the sim- 
ple ones I discerned among the youths a young man 
void of understanding, passing through the street near 
her corner; and he went the way to her house in the 
twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. 
And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of 
an harlot and subtile of heart. She is loud and stub- 
born ; her feet abide not in her house ! now she is with- 
out, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every cor- 
ner. So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an 
impudent face said unto him, I have peace offerings 
with me; this day have I paid my vows. Therefore 
came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, 
and I have found thee. I have decked my bed with 
coverings of tapestry, with carved work, with fine 
linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, 
aloes and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love 
until the morning; let us solace ourselves with love. 
For the good man is not at home, he has gone a long 
journey; he hath taken a bag of money with him, and 
will come home at the day appointed. Wtih her much 
fair speech she causeth him to yield, with the flattering 
of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straight 
way, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to 
the correction of the stocks ; till a dart strike through 
his liver ; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth 
not that it is for his life." 

Yes, it is an awful picture ,but as true to life in the 
cities of today as in the olden times. Those who know 
where to look may see this scene reproduced any night 
in the year. It is not far, and until the later hours it 
is not dangerous. Pass with me only two or three 
blocks from the fashionable streets, and we are in the 
slums. Now watch. It is early evening and they are 
not as bold as later, but the brazen woman is here, 
and the silly youth. There, she has found him; only 
a few sentences of fair speech and she causes him to 
yield, and they pass on together, and disappear in the 
haunt of shame. Alas for the poor, simple youth, void 

125 



of understanding; and shame on the shameless one 
who led him astray. We feel as if we would like to 
shout the words of the wise man in the ears of the 
boy: "Hearken now unto me, therefore. * * *Let 
not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in 
her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded; 
yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her 
house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers 
of death." Let us flee the moral contagion of this 
breathing place of hell! 

But hold. Now that we are here in the slums, I 
want you to take a closer look at the denizens of the 
place. Compel yourself to speak to that brazen harlot. 
"How came you here?" "By way of the occasional 
glass at my father's table. I was once the pet of the 
household. I moved in the most exclusive circles. But 
we thought no harm of the social glass, and the friend- 
ly game of cards. We went to the select plays of the 
fashionable theatres; nothing low, of course. But we 
enjoyed the parlor dance in the homes of our set. That 
was all. But it was enough. That was one end of the 
incline, and this is the other." This is the first charge 
that I bring against these four institutions that I have 
named, that they all lead downward and not upward. 
There is no inherent antagonism between them; and 
no change of direction necessary from the beginning 
to reach the lowest depths of temporal and eternal 
infamy. And the great peril is in the fact that they 
are not what they seem. The rosy cheeked girl and 
her companion upon the first steps of this incline to the 
pit that is bottomless, seeing only the present pleasure 
are disposed to resent interference, and especially the 
suggestion of impurity. And the parents provide the 
entertainment, they pass the wine cup, and shuffle 
the cards, and whirl in the dance with their children, 
and count him a fool or a knave who hints at evil. 
Nevertheless we lift our voice in protest of these in- 
stitutions, strongly intrenched in society as they are. 
They are not what they seem. The devil's voice is 
melodious, but he means mischief. The sirens sing 

126 



most enchantingly, but it is death to yield to the charm 
of their voices. Without fear of successful refutation 
I make this arraignment of these four institutions. 
The wine cup leads to drunkeness. Not that everyone 
who indulges in an occasional glass will fill a drunk- 
ard's grave ; but the tendency is in that direction. The 
one who never drinks the first glass will never die a 
drunkard, that is sure. The one who does take an oc- 
casional social glass, just as a token of friendship, may 
pass on down the road; thousands do every year. And 
what I wish to emphasize is this: that the occasional 
drinker has not to turn about, but just keep on in the 
same direction to meet a drunkard's doom. 

The card-table leads to gambling. Playing cards are 
the gambler's favorite tools the world over. This is 
not true of authors, or anagrams, or dominoes, or many 
other games with which we sometimes hear cards com- 
pared. Not all card players become professional gam- 
blers; but those who fill the gambling hells today 
were once innocently enjoying the social game in the 
parlor, and simply added zest to the game by making 
it progressive with a prize or a souvenir at the end. 
You have only to keep on in the same direction to reach 
the same destination. 

The theatre and the dance lead to licentiousness. 
This is a bold challenge to throw into the face of fash- 
able society, yet I make it unflinchingly ,and in support 
of the charge I point to the record and history of 
these two institutions from the very first. Again I 
admit that not everyone who attends a theatrical play, 
or indulges in a social dance closes up his career in a 
brothel. Such a charge would be ridiculous. Neither 
do I assert that these are the only avenues to impurity, 
for there are many. But the history of the insti- 
tutions enables me to say: that the theatre and ball- 
room are most prolific of evil. Three-fourths at least 
of the prostitutes of this land entered upon their awful 
career through the doorway of the theatre and the ball- 
room. The theatre-goer and the dancer do not need 
to about-face in order to reach the depths of infamy. 

127 



Only let them keep on, it is an inclined plane, and they 
will find themselves moving with accelerated speed con- 
tinually, for the natural tendency of these things is 
toward licentiousness. 

I now ask you to consider the secret of power, the 
excitant principle, in each of these institutions. That 
they do have a powerful hold upon society must be ad- 
mitted. Whatever other problem a pastor may escape, 
in moving from one field to another, the question of 
amusements confronts him everywhere. Whatever 
other questions past generations may have settled for 
us, this question is handed down as a perpetual heri- 
tage. It is universal and omnipresent, and these in- 
stitutions never recognize defeat. Conquered in argu- 
ment today they appear on the scene tomorrow as se- 
renely as ever; and each generation, in the simplicity 
of youth and inexperience, asks the same question, 
"What harm?" So we do well to look beneath the 
surface for the secret of power. It is the experience 
of the ages that everything good in this world lives 
by sufferance, in spite of combined and persistent op- 
position; and that everything bad flourishes as indig- 
enous to the soil, like weeds in the garden. If you 
would reap a harvest of good you must stoutly resist 
the encroachments of the weeds. When we recall the 
fact already indicated that these institutions do not 
have to be fostered in order to flourish, we get a hint 
as to their true character : and this hint is emphasized 
by the fact that they hold their own in respectable so- 
ciety, and among professed Christians, notwithstand- 
ing the steady opposition of the great majority of 
Christian ministers, and earnest laymen, and of the 
character of Jesus Christ. Despite the solid front of 
the forces of aggressive Christianity these institutions 
hold their own, and more. Surely they must make 
some appeal to the natural heart, and by fair speech 
cause the unwary to yield. It is of this insidious ap- 
peal to the evil that is in us that I now wish to speak. 
In the wine cup it is alcohol exhilerating the action 

128 



of the brain. Take away the possibility of that effect, 
and the institution of social drinking would fall of its 
own weight. The demands of modern society upon 
her votaries are simply terrific. Late hours, the com- 
petition and rivalry of sets, the fascination of the 
dance, the excitement of the constant whirl of society 
functions ; all these tax the physical powers almost be- 
yond endurance, and often to the point of utter col- 
lapse. To avoid this the cup of wine is taken and 
affords temporary relief. It imparts color to the cheek, 
vivacity to the eye, brightness to the conversation, 
strength to the limbs. It enables the devotee of fash- 
ion to hold his own in the rush of exciting festivity. 
Some are strong enough to indulge moderately and 
stem the tide of evil. Others, whose name is legion, 
yield to the much fair speech of the siren, and ulti- 
mately leave their whitening bones along the strand. 
In cards it is the desire to win : rousing the nerves, 
unbalancing the judgment, and hardening the heart. 
Take away the possibility of gambling, and the card- 
table would be robbed of its charm. The fascination 
of the game of chance, and the possibility of success, 
together with the temptation to live easy and get some- 
thing for nothing are potent factors which the arch 
deceiver well knows how to employ. He may not get 
all, he will be sure of many, and so he plies his ne- 
farious traffic in souls, and continues to get his 
recruits out of good society by means of the harmless 
game of cards! A prominent minister of one of our 
large cities tells his experience thus for the benefit 
of the unwary: "I learned to play cards as a youth 
in society. I had rare aptitude and skill. Soon the 
temptation came to gamble? I yielded, and for sev- 
eral years was a professional. I was converted, and 
for twenty years have been in the ministry ,and have 
not touched a card. But to this day I cannot see a 
game of cards without having my blood tingle to my 
very finger tips." Is there no harm in that which 
thus fires the evil within us? Sunday school teacher, 
with a class of boys, are you willing by example or 

129 



otherwise, to put such a temptation in the way of 
those bright youths? Dare you take such responsi- 
bility for the possible loss of a soul? 

In the theatre it is the taste for moral filth and 
garbage. Because of this foul taste that demands 
gratification, the theatre has never been kept pure, 
and can never be reformed. Put only clean plays 
upon the boards, and the seats are left unoccupied. 
A Christian lady was visiting other Christian friends 
in the city. The city acquaintances had fallen into 
the way of the world, and enjoyed attending "a good 
clean theatre," as they expressed it, now and then. 
They knew of one such, where the best people of the 
city went, that would not tolerate anything corrupt. 
She was finally induced to go for the first time in 
her life, and found the performance to her unculti- 
vated taste corrupt in parts, and silly where it was not 
salacious. Her face was mantled with a blush of 
shame several times, and as for the remainder she 
was disgusted. She had seen all of the inside of the 
moral (?) theatre that she desired. For the most 
part the audience seemed to realize neither the folly 
nor the foulness of the entertainment. Her friends 
excused it as "exceptionally poor." And this was the 
possibility of harm in a good theatre where the best 
people go. Enough to show the tendency, and we 
can imagine what the worst might be. The history 
of the institution makes it impossible to refute the 
allegation that the theatre panders to lust, and out of 
lust makes its profits. Clean theatres never pay. 

In the dance the secret of power is passion. The 
dance of modern society is the devil's great master- 
piece for the degradation of humanity. Take away 
all the conditions which lead to impurity, and the in- 
stitution of the dance would be thrown out of society 
for its insipidity. Not but what many dancers of both 
sexes remain pure in spite of the temptation. Of 
course they do. But other multitudes, with no more 
thought of evil at the beginning, dance on to their 
ruin. We are told that the average length of life of 

130 



the excessive female dancer is twenty-six years, and 
of the male "thirty-one, and that not so much because 
of the physical exercise involved, as of the insidious 
harmful results of such close physical contact of the 
sexes. If it is thus dangerous to health what must 
be the danger of harm in morals? A vigorous writer, 
a converted dancing master, thus puts the views that 
I have endeavored to present. "The first drink of the 
drunkard was just a social glass. The first game of 
the gambler was just a social game; and three-fourths 
of the outcasts had a man's arm about them for the 
first time when they were young girls at a social 
dance." 

In conclusion allow me to say that it is not because 
of any whim, or caprice, or wish for arbitrary power 
that churches as a rule, and earnest Christian work- 
ers without exception have so persistently protested 
against these things. Often we hear it said that 
nobody would think of harm if only the church would 
abolish the rule forbidding these innocent things, and 
stop talking on the wrong side of the amusement ques- 
tion. As if the church were continually trying to 
down a man of straw. All this view of the matter is 
a great mistake. Every Christian worker comes very 
soon to understand the inherent evil of these institu- 
tions. The corrupt fruit clearly indicates a corrupt 
tree. Often has the faithful pastor, surrounded by 
professed Christians who see no harm in amusements, 
wished that some of these votaries of fashion would 
prove their theory in actual life. Words are cheap, 
but one example of a Christian dancer, or card player, 
or theatre-goer or dram drinker, always at his post 
in the church ,always to be counted on when any earn- 
est work was to be done for Christ, and with an un- 
tarnished influence doing his part would be beyond 
all argument in proving the harmlessness of these 
things. But such an example is yet to be found. No 
pastor depends on that part of his membership to aid 
him in the spiritual work of the church. 

131 



What then should be the attitude of every one who 
desires at last to come up before his Lord, not only 
with the leaves of a fair profession, but with the fruit 
of a godly life ? Evidently to avoid evil in every form, 
and, if there be a doubt upon any point, to give one's 
self the benefit of the doubt, and avoid the very "ap- 
pearance of evil" Let us show our wisdom by not 
being beguiled into sin by the much fair speech of the 
deceiver. 



132 



PARALLELISM BETWEEN THE NATION OF THE 

JEWS AND THE CHURCH OF 

JESUS CHRIST. 

For our initial thought in this discussion we may 
use the incident recorded by Luke in the fifteenth 
chapter of the Acts in connection with the council at 
Jersusalem concerning circumcision. It was a dram- 
atic moment when Peter, the apostle to the circum- 
cision, arose and made a strong plea against the neces- 
sity of the rite. He refers to his mission to the house 
of Cornelius, and the result of that visit: that God, 
the searcher of hearts, had given to them, being 
Gentiles, the Holy Spirit ,and purified their hearts by 
faith ,thus invalidating circumcision as an essential 
to salvation. He then declared his belief that Jewish 
believers also, even as Gentiles, were saved by the 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, apart from circum- 
cision. His conclusion is that in regard to salvation 
there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. As 
Paul afterward put it ; "the same Lord over all is rich 
unto all that call upon him." The Jewish Christians 
were inclined to a sense of superiority because of the 
blood which flowed in their veins; and within certain 
limits they had the right so to feel. Paul expressly 
declares that as compared with citizens of any other 
nation the Jews had great advantage; "because that 
unto them were committed the oracles of God," and 
"to them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and 
the covenants ,and the giving of the law, and the 
service of God, and the promises: and of whom, as 
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God 
blessed forever." If we were to seek them we might 
fmd many contrasts favorable to the Jews. But when 
it comes to the matter of grace there is absolutely no 

133 



difference. All have sinned. All have come short of 
the glory of God. All are under condemnation. All 
are subject to the penalty. There is but one name 
under heaven, given among men, whereby any can 
be saved. All have need of the preached Word, and 
the influence of the Holy Spirit. The hearts of all 
alike need to be purified by faith, and Jew as well as 
Gentile must be saved by grace alone. It has oc- 
curred to me that there are parallels equally as evi- 
dent as this between the Jewish nation and the Church 
of Jesus Christ: parallels inherent and fundamental, 
and not merely superficial and incidental. In the seek- 
ing of these parallels I have found an interesting and 
fruitful field of study. 

That I may not be misunderstood let me state the 
use made of the word church in this paper. Not in 
the sense often employed of the mystical body of 
Christ, neither as a synonym for Christianity or the 
gospel. Sometimes the word is used in public ad- 
dress and written production with great lack of dis- 
crimination, to the great loss of clearness and the 
confusion of the student. I speak of the visible 
church, or what might be called organized Christian- 
ity as we find it in different forms among men. Had 
human judgment of character always been infallible 
in the reception of members into the visible church, 
and Christ's ideal of the church and of Christian con- 
duct been maintained, then had the mystical body and 
the visible body always been identical in spirit, and 
there would have been less need of care in the use of 
terms. But the church of Jesus Christ in the world 
being what it is in practical life, a mixture of regen- 
erate and unregenerate, of the saved and the unsaved, 
of the true Israel and the mixed multitude, we may 
not predicate the same things of the church visible 
and the church invisible. Hence the reader will bear 
in mind that the parallels I may draw are between the 
organization of the Jews as a nation and the organ- 
ized church of Jesus Christ: that is, the church in 

134 



atiy of the various forms of organization which it may 
take among men. 

1. The first parallel which I suggest, and perhaps 
one of the most obvious, is this: that the nation and 
the church are equally chosen instruments of God. 

(a) Let us first dwell upon the thought of the 
Jewish nation as the chosen people of God. God said 
to Abram, at the time of changing his name to Abra- 
ham, and before Isaac was born; "I will establish my 
covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee 
in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to 
be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And 
I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the 
land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of 
Canaan, for an everlasting possession: and I will be 
their God." He renewed this covenant with Isaac: 
"I am the God of thy father Abraham; fear not for I 
am with thee, and will bless thee., and multiply thy 
seed for my servant Abraham's sake." In the last 
charge of Moses to the children of Israel he reminded 
them of this covenant. "For thou art an holy people 
unto the Lord Thy God; for the Lord thy God hath 
chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above 
all people that are upon the face of the earth." Their 
ritual service was given them by Jehovah, and the 
priesthood were under his direction in their altar min- 
istration. Evidently the nation was chosen of God. 

(b) Now consider for a moment the church. 
Speaking of the regenerate part of it. the mystical 
oody, Peter says : "Ye are an elect race, a royal priest- 
hood, a holy nation, a people for God's own posses- 
sion." It would almost seem, from the similarity of 
thought that Peter must have had in mind as he wrote 
the words of Moses above quoted. But in this world 
a spirit must have a body to become efficient. The 
mystical body must have a visible form, and so Christ 
says, as he looks forward to the development of his 
work under the Apostles: "I will build my church." 
That is, I will give it visible form and organization. 
And so. as time went on. as the nation had observed 

135 



circumcision and the passover, so the church observed 
baptism and the Lord's Supper: as the nation had 
its law, so the church had its written Word; as the 
nation had its priesthood, so the church had its min- 
istry; as the nation had its tabernacle or its Temple, 
so the church had its sanctuary; as the nation was 
chosen of God to be a special people unto himself above 
all other nations, so the church visible is God's chosen 
instrument for the accomplishment of his purpose in 
the present dispensation. It is to me a glorious 
thought that the nation and the church are thus linked 
together in the divine purpose throughout the ages: 
that God, in all the history of men, has had an elect a 
chosen people, a people visibly known and provident- 
ially uplifted above all other people on the face of the 
earth. The visible church, as well as the mystical 
entity which it embodies, though in lesser degree, is 
the ecclesia, the called out, the designated of God. 

2. The second parallel, closely related to the first, 
is this: that the nation and the church have a similar 
mission and commission from God. 

(a) We may say of the nation that its mission 
was three-fold, and that its commission was to fulfill 
that three-fold task. 

(1) It was ordained of God that through the na- 
tion of the Jews should be given to the world the 
knowledge of himself, the one, only living and true 
God. We may speculate as to how Abram, of Ur of 
the Chaldees, springing from an idolatrous race, came 
into possession of ideas so different from the poly- 
theistic notions in the midst of which he was reared. 
But the fact is plain. He was a steadfast believer in 
the principle of monotheism as opposed to polytheism, 
and his whole outer and inner life was moulded ac- 
cordingly. And throughout its history, till the com- 
ing of the Christ, the nation which he produced was 
the only nation which kept alive the doctrine and the 
knowledge of the true God. 

(2) To the nation of the Jews was also given 
the mission of receiving and promulgating the divine 

136 



law, and in the fact of such a mission and commis- 
sion to such a people we have another mystery. At 
the time that they were gathered about Mount Sinai 
to receive the tables of the law they were as far re- 
moved from a judicial cast of mind as it is easily pos- 
sible to conceive. They were but just escaped from 
Egyptian bondage, with all the accumulated ignorance 
and superstition resulting from an experience of more 
than four hundred years of slavery among a heathen 
people. It was when they were hardly worthy to be 
called a nation, when a spiritual darkness which could 
be felt pervaded their being, when they were scarcely 
more than a mobocracy; that this despised people re- 
ceived by disposition of angels, amidst the august sur- 
roundings of Sinai, a law profound enough, and uni- 
versal enough to govern mankind through all the ages 
of earthly history. The law which has been at the 
base of the finest constitutions and the strongest civil 
codes the world has ever known has been the heritage 
of the ages because the Jewish nation was commis- 
sioned with its care and promulgation. 

(3) Still further, they had committed to them in 
the observance of the law of sacrifice the germ of the 
doctrines of grace, out of which grew the clearer 
teachings of the New Testament: God's plan for sav- 
ing sinful men without compromising any attribute 
of his own nature. Through priest and prophet these 
doctrines were handed down from generation to gen- 
eration, through all the spiritual inertia of the dreary 
ages of their national life. Thus they became the 
heralds of the great Sin-bearer .and in due time gave 
to the world the Messiah. However weak in faith, or 
lax in morals, or sunken in vice the mass of the people 
might be, there was always an Isaiah, or a Jeremiah, 
or an Ezekial, or a Daniel, or a Jonah or an Amos to 
echo the thunders of Sinai or reflect the gentle radi- 
ance of the coming dawn. 

(b) After the institution of the church we find 
the same three-fold work carried out, and in the good 
providence of God developing into that which is most 

137 



helpful to receptive souls. The germ of the old dis- 
pensation has become flower and fruitage in the new 
for the good of humanity. 

(1) The church, and not the world, has kept alive 
ipon its altars the fire of devotion to the true God. 

(2) The church, and not the world, has main- 
tained the authority of the law of God as given by 
Moses, only with greater emphasis upon the spiritual- 
ity of its contents. Christ distinctly declared that he 
came not to destroy but to fulfill; that is, to fill full 
with spiritual significance those moral precepts which 
had come to be considered by so many as simply forms. 
And at a later day the Scriptures, both of the Old and 
New Testaments, were committed to the church, to 
cherish and to disseminate to the end of the age. 

(3) The church ,and not the world, has preserved 
the doctrines of grace as hinted in sacrificial offering 
and prophetic utterance, and plainly taught in apostolic 
precept. The parallel between the nation and the 
church in these particulars is evident. How gloriously 
does the church of Jesus Christ supplement and in- 
tensify and augment the three-fold work of the Jewish 
nation in the perpetuation of its mission and commis- 
sion to the world ! Taking the gospel which in embryo 
was preached to Abraham, and declaring it in all its 
added power and sweetness to the world. Those in 
the visible church truly live who have come to know 
God in the person of Jesus Christ, and are filled with 
a consuming zeal to tell the story of redemption to 
every creature. 

3 The third parallel, and one which would seem 
upon the most cursory examination to be self-evident, 
is this: that in the nation and the church there is 
an elect, within the elect, a circle within the circumfer- 
ence. 

(a) This two-fold nature of the Jewish people is 
indicated by Paul from a doctrinal standpoint. "For 
they are not all Israel who are of Israel. Neither, be- 
cause they are the seed of Abraham, are they all 

138 



children." That is, it is not the children of the flesh 
that are the children of God; but the children of the 
promise are reckoned for a seed. The teaching of 
Paul is in harmony with the words of Jesus, where he 
says to the same individuals, during the same con- 
versation : "I know that ye are Abraham's seed," and 
also: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the deeds 
of your father ye will do." The evident teaching of 
Christ and the apostle is this: that there is an elect 
nation, and from the elect nation there is an election 
of grace. Within the circumference of the national 
life is the inner circle of spiritual life. With this view 
agree the historical records. From the fretful, com- 
plaining, rebellious rabble which Moses led out of 
^gypt, to the idolatrous nation which follows in the 
way of Jereboam the son of Nebat, and on to the 
egotistical, self-righteous children of Abraham who 
stood for scrupulosity instead of spirituality, and shed 
the blood of Jesus while they washed their hands in 
innocency, there have always been a select few who 
proved themselves to be the children of God by doing 
the will of God. 

(b) So in the church of Jesus Christ there has 
always been a clear distinction between the real and 
the nominal among the professed people of God. In 
the days of the apostles there were Ananias and 
Saphira, Simon Magus and Diatrephes, Alexander the 
coppersmith and Demas the lover of the world; and 
these were but types of those comprising the outer 
rim of the circumference of the church life all the way 
down through the ages of church history. And then 
the inner circle of the elect within the elect, typical 
characters life Stephen, and Barnabas, and Paul, and 
Luke, and Phoebe, and the Marys of blessed memory. 
How the gloom of this old world is dispelled by the 
light radiating from the lives of these faithful men and 
women whfc walked with God! 

4. I presume that the general consensus of opin- 
ion among christian people is in harmony with what I 
have said thus far, but I am not so sure of rinding 

139 



agreement with what is to follow. Possibly some may 
feel that I have been giving expression to mere plati- 
tudes and truisms, and thus wasting precious time. 
On the other hand, in what I am about to present, I 
may be charged with gloominess and pessimsim if not 
with actual falsity of statement. Yet I am as fully 
convinced of the correctness of view in the parallels 
yet to be given as in those already presented, and I 
assume that it is no part of wisdom either to deny or 
to conceal truth because it is unpalatable, or is intend- 
ed as a danger signal. I ask only that the views about 
to be presented be given careful and prayerful con- 
sideration. With this plea for attention to what I be- 
lieve to be the very truth of God I am ready to sug- 
gest the fourth parallel, viz: that for the nation and 
the church there are prophecies of deterioration, and 
decay and dissolution. And further, that in fulfill- 
ment of these prophecies, despite derision and denial, 
the Jewish nation became extinct and the visible 
church will cease to be. 

(a) Let us note some of the prophecies regarding 
the Jewish nation. Following the curses for disobed- 
ience recorded in Deuteronomy we find these words: 
Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joy- 
fulness and gladness of heart, for the abundance of 
all things: therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies 
which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and 
in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things ; 
and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until 
he have destroyed thee. Prophesying evil against 
Judah, Jeremiah declares: "Thus saith the Lord; If 
ye will not hearken unto me, to walk in my law, which 
I have set before you ,to hearken to the words of my 
servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you * * * 
Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make 
this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." For 
this and similar prophecies of coming evil, Jeremiah 
was cast into a loathsome dungeon, and even his life 
was endangered. In the eyes of the authorities and 
if the priests he was a pessimist, and it was not fit 

140 



that he should live. There were plenty of people, and 
would be leaders of public thought, who derided, and 
denied and scoffed, until the burden of ignominy and 
shame heaped upon the true prophet of God became 
well nigh unbearable. And yet the word of the Lord 
tood fast ,and tae false prophets died, and the threat- 
ened judgments of the Almighty were visited upon the 
people with increasing fury, until it was an astonish- 
ment just to hear the report. Where now is the glory 
of Solomon? What is become of Judah, and of the 
kingdom of Israel? The united Kingdom as David 
left it, and the divided Kingdom of Judah and Israel, 
where are they today? All sunk in the deep waters of 
the wrath of God, as he said. In the light of history 
the prophet of evil stands vindicated. Jehovah still sits 
upon his throne, and all his would be critics are si- 
lenced. 

(b) Now let us turn to consider the trend of 
prophecy concerning the church. Christ saw fit to 
warn his disciples in the sermon on the mount in this 
way: "Beware of false prophets, which shall come to 
you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening 
wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." In the 
parable of the sower he indicates that as long as the 
gospel sower goes forth among men he will find the 
proportion of unprofitable soil to good as three to one, 
closing the parable with this impressive word : "Who 
hath ears to hear let him hear." In the parable of the 
tares he suggests that in the great world field tares 
will thrive as well as wheat, and in such quantity that 
to attempt to eradicate them would endanger the wheat. 
In the parable of the mustard seed the church, organ- 
ized Christianity if you will, has come to be large and 
powerful, but the birds of the air are in the midst of 
it. In the first parable the birds of the air represent 
the devil, and I see no reason for supposing any other 
intention here. What then is the teaching of this 
parable of the mustard seed? Simply this, in the 
language of a well known writer: "The profession of 
Christ in this world, the professing church of Christ, 

141 



becoming the sheler, the refuge, the dwelling place of 
the devil as well as the Son of God. And that away 
down the centuries, when the church has become 
large and powerful." And the same writer adds: 
"When it is remembered that in the story of the 
wheat and tares you have the devil introducing his own 
children among those who are the children of the king- 
dom, it ought not to be a surprise, but evidence of the 
logic of things, that in the mustard tree he enters in 
himself and finds habitation." 

Not to follow the teaching of the parables further, 
note the Master's direct teaching in regard to the cir- 
cumstances preceding his second coming: "Then shall 
they deliver you up into tribulation, and shall kill you, 
and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's 
sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver 
up one another ,and shall hate one another. And many 
false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. 
And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of 
the many shall wax cold. But he that endureth to the 
end, the same shall be saved." We might find many 
declarations in the writings of the apostles at a later 
date which give evidence of being indicted by the same 
spirit. The trend of scripture is toward this conclu- 
sion; that as the centuries pass, and the professing 
church gathers to itself numbers and wealth and in- 
fluence, it will become worldly in spirit, selfish in aim, 
false in doctrine, and corrupt in conduct, until at last 
He that walketh in the midst of the golden candle- 
sticks shall say: "I know thy works, that thou art 
neither hot nor cold; I would tljat thou wert cold or 
hot. So because thou art lukewarm and neither cold 
nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." The paral- 
lel between the nation and the church as regards de- 
terioration and decay and dissolution is thus seen to be 
complete, and as the prophecies of evil regarding the 
nation have been fulfilled, so we may be sure that the 
time shall come when the unfulfilled prophecies of evil 
concerning the church shall be realized. "Hath the 
Lord spoken ,and shall He not do it?" 

142 



5. The fifth parallel follows the fourth as a matter 
of course: that the prevalent view, in nation and 
church, of ultimate world conquest through the use 
of means already in operation is erroneous ancr doomed 
to disappointment. 

(a) What was the prevalent view among the Jews 
concerning the prophecies of ultimate triumph? The 
desire of the people to make Christ king is our answer. 
Their thought through all the past had been cast in the 
mould of military prowess and a temporal kingdom 
of universal empire. Every prophecy of conquest was 
given this coloring. The Messiah of their expectations 
was to be one who could take the reins of power, and 
win decisive victories over every form of earthly gov- 
ernment, and stand at last proud monarch of the world. 
Then would the Jews, basking in the sunlight of royal 
patronage and favor, and ruling other nations with a 
rod of iron, prove themselves the favored people of 
God, above every other people on the face of the earth. 
We can now understand how far from this view was 
the plan of God. They thought of temporal rule as 
the real mission of the Jewish nation. As the Lord 
had promised Canaan for an inheritance, so they 
thought that ultimately every oposing force would be 
placed under their feet. And when they see Jesus 
performing miracles they associate him with th^ir na- 
tional heroes of the past ,and think that now the one 
has risen foretold in prophecy, to whom the Lord will 
give "the heathen for an inheritance, and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for a possession;" in a literal 
interpretation of the words, by force of arms. Hence, 
when he seems to hesitate, while all things wait in the 
crucial hour, they are ready to take him by force and 
place him upon the throne and follow him to victory. 
As we now know, this hope was doomed to disappoint- 
ment, for it was not Jesus' way. But it was the only 
way they knew, and when Jesus so grievously crushed 
their hope they were ready to crush him out of ex- 
istence. Their mistake was in regard to the scope and 
character of their mission in the world ,and because of 

143 



this mistake they thought that not to win a material 
conquest of the world was to make a failure of their 
national life. And yet we know, in the light of his- 
tory, that Judaism was no failure because their fond 
hope did not materialize. Really they had no ground 
for their hope. The mission of the Jews ,as we have 
already seen, was to give to the world a knowledge of 
the true God, and of his law and the germ of the doc- 
trine of salvation by grace, and this three-fold task 
they accomplished. The task they set for themselves 
they were not fitted for, nor was it in harmony with 
the plan of God. 

(b) Turning to the church we find at a very early 
day the possession of a different hope, but one equally 
erroneous. They had come to see the mistake of the 
Jews in looking for a temporal sovereign in the Mes- 
siah, and realized to a degree the spiritual import of 
the work which God would have His people to perform. 
And so they swung to the other extreme, and dwelt 
mostly upon those phases of the kingdom which were 
passive. "The servant of the Lord must not strive." 
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of hosts." They came to cherish the thought 
of a conquest of the world spiritually by grace. Christ 
is the prince of peace, and he will win his victories by 
the operation of the silent and invisible forces of right- 
eousness. Do not contend for the faith, but let the 
truth win its way by its own inherent power. Like 
leaven let it work till the whole world has come under 
the gentle sway of Prince Immanuel. For truth is 
mighty and must prevail. Only let us be patient and 
the time will certainly came when every form of in- 
iquity shall be put down, and the visible church, 
through the operation of invisible forces, shall usher 
in the reign of righteousness throughout the world. 

Now we have to say that this hope of the church, not 
resting upon a basis of Bible truth, is as futile as the 
hope of the nation. The real mission of the church is 
not the spiritual conquest of the world any more than 
that of the Jews was physical conquest. For such a 

144 



mission they were not fitted, and such a conquest was 
not in the plan of God. The specific mission of the 
church, as we have seen, was to continue the mission 
of the Jewish nation, only with intenser spiritual em- 
phasis; teaching the knowledge of the true God, and 
of his law, and the doctrines of grace as illumined by 
the Cross. In a word, not to convert the world but to 
evangelize it, to preach the gospel to every creature. 
The visible, organized church with all its imperfections, 
is fitted only to do this, and doing this it is no failure. 
Yet a multitude of the professing church is manifest- 
ing the same spirit toward those who would disillusion- 
ize them that the leaders of thought in his day mani- 
fested toward Jeremiah, and even toward our Lord 
Himself. 

6. The last parallel which I sugest is this : that the 
nation and the church begin their most rapid decline 
at the moment of their greatest exaltation in the way 
of material advantages. 

(a) Behold Solomon in all his glory. The kingdom 
has reached a height of privilege and of power previous- 
ly unknown. David, the man of iron and of war, Bis- 
marck like, had welded discordant factions together, 
and with the force of a strong people thus organized and 
fired with love for a dauntless leader, he hurls himself 
upon his eneimes and wins decisive victories; leaving 
to his son the legagy of a united nation and a land at 
rest from war. Solomon takes the sceptre of peace, 
and walking in the fear of the Lord is greatly prosper- 
ed, until far distant lands learn his fame. As their 
rulers came to judge for themselves they are led to 
exclaim, "the half hath not been told us. Happy are 
thy men, happy are these thy servants that stand con- 
tinually before thee , and that hear thy wisdom. Bless- 
ed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to 
set thee on the throne of Israel." Proud moment of 
achievement for Solomon ! If only he had realized the 
significance of the opportunity which the glory of his 
nation involved. But his head was turned by the mag- 
nificence of his reign, and at the very time when he ex- 

145 



ceeded all other kings of the earth in riches and wis- 
dom, and other nations were laying their tribute at his 
feet, he gave his love to foreign women and they turned 
away his heart from Jehovah. And the Lord was 
angry, and the prophecy of a divided Kingdom fell 
upon his ear. The Northern kingdom prospered for a 
time, and Jereboam II regained much of the territory 
which had been lost under previous kings, and forti- 
fied many cities and his long reign seemed to promise 
great things for the future. His government was vig- 
orous and successful, and the kingdom of Israel was 
apparently strong and wealthy. Yet from that point 
their descent was rapid and terrible. Four successive 
kings were assassinated by conspirators, and one mili- 
try chief after another took possession of the throne. 
The moral and religious condition of the people become 
fearfully corrupt. A writer thus sums up the degen- 
eracy of the times : "Every description of crime pre- 
vailed. The kings and princes were murderers and 
profligates. The idolatrous priests had spread their 
shameful festivals and deceitful oracles all over the 
land; the great parties in the state resorted for help 
sometimes to Assyria, and at other times to Egypt, 
while the whole nation relied wholly upon an arm of 
flesh; worldly and sinful objects were pursued by the 
same eagerness by Ephraim as by Canaan; a listless 
security blinded all minds, giving place in the moment 
of danger to a repentance merely of the lips ; and what 
was the root of all the evils, God and His word was 
forgotten." Under such conditions the end was 
neither remote nor uncertain; and the pity was that 
their descent from so high an altitude of privilege 
should have been so swift and sudden. 

(b) Concerning the visible church of Jesus Christ 
in the world today there are two facts which challenge 
our attention. First, the high position which it oc- 
cupies in point of privilege and power. Never were 
such possibilities of usefulness before it. It has num- 
bers and wealth, and social prestige and magnificent 
cathedrals and costly church edifices. It has educa- 

146 



tion and culture, and refinement and popularity. All 
the scientific inventions and appliances of the day are 
ready to do its bidding; limited express trains and 
ocean greyhounds to carry its messengers, and tele- 
graph and cable and wireless to transmit its messages 
to the ends of the earth. It has the persuasive elo- 
quence o£ the pulpit orator, and the scholarly produc- 
tions of the biblical expositor, and the matchless logic 
of the skilled rhetorician. At what period of the his- 
tory of the church could Jehovah's question to his an- 
cient people be more appropriately repeated to his 
people of the present dispensation: "What could have 
been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done 
in it?" Exalted to heaven, indeed; blest with privi- 
leges, honored with responsibilities, with problems 
confronting it requiring the fullest knowledge, the 
most profound wisdom, the clearest judgment and the 
most statesmanlike sagacity. 

The second fact is the very manifest failure to 
measure up to the height of its exaltation. If we ask 
what the church is doing today commensurate with its 
princely endowments, echo answers, What? Its as- 
sets are in possibilities rather than achievements. We 
are simply playing at missions while the whole world 
lieth in wickedness. We dole out dollars in beneficence 
and lavish thousands in self indulgence. We make 
even the service of the sanctuary minister to our van- 
ity and pride and self complacency, while we sit in fine- 
ly cushioned pews, and listen to aesthetic music and 
colorless moral essays, or disquisitions upon ethics or 
the philosophy of religion. Meanwhile the church is 
heedless of its most sacred, God-given obligations, 
spirituality pants for breath, and the very superfluity 
of naughtiness within the church is condoned or given 
slight protest. Forgetfulness of God is a prevailing 
characteristic. Again we seem to hear the startling 
inquiry of the Lord concerning his vineyard: "Where- 
fore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes 
brought it forth wild grapes?" The outcry regarding 
the condition of the church is not to be passed by as a 

147 



dismal croak of a pessimist, but should be counted an 
alarm signal in view of our alarmingly rapid descent. 
The sooner we realize the parallel between the old 
Jewish nation in the days of Solomon and the church 
of today in this particular, the greater will be the 
salvage from the wreck, for we are certainly going 
down grade at a frightful speed. The analogy is yet 
more complete if we recall the voices of protest raised 
against Jeremiah and his kind in the ancient days. As 
then, so now, the declarer of unwelcome truth is not 
welcome. And yet when the truth is as fire shut up 
in the bones, one must speak. 

With a single thought concerning the ultimate fu- 
ture of the nation and the church I leave the subject. 
First, as to the nation. God is not unmindful of his 
covenant. His promise of restoration to their own land 
shall yet be fulfilled ,though the delay has made many 
a heart sick. There is a future yet before the ancient 
people of God. After the fullness of the Gentiles be 
come in, then shall God again graft the Jewish scion 
into the original stock, for he is able to do it. For 
the elaboration of this point, and the quotation of 
Scripture in support there is no time. 

In regard to the church. The same query may arise 
as concerning the Jews, "Hath God cast away His 
people ?" And the same answer may be given, "God 
forbid." He has his eye upon his own ,and while the 
visible, organized church, as it appears in the world 
today, shall be rejected because of its apostacy, the 
elect within the elect are not forgotten. These, to- 
gether with those believers who for any cause have not 
identified themselves with the visible church; all who 
constitute the mystical body, the real church of Jesus 
Christ, shall be found within the shelter of the promise. 
Against the church thus defined the gates of hell shall 
not prevail. And in that glorious day when our Lord 
shall come to call his own to that wonderful meeting 
in the air, then shall the Bride gladly hasten to answer 
the Bridegroom's call. 

148 



"Wake, awake, for night is flying, 
The watchmen on the heights are crying ; 
Midnight hears the welcome voices, 
And at the thrilling cry rejoices; 
Your lamps with gladness take ; 

Hallelujah ! 
And for his marriage feast prepare, 
For ye must go to meet him there." 



149 



EUGENICS AS A REMEDY FOR THE DE- 
TERIORATION OF MANKIND. 

Sunday, Feb. 9th, of the current year (1913) was 
set apart as Eugenics Day by the governor of the 
state of Michigan. A sermon preached on that morn- 
ing proved interesting to one, at least, who heard it; 
which fact, I suppose, is the reason for my appearing 
before you today. I claim no expert knowledge of the 
subject, and can give you simply the results of a little 
cursory study of the newspapers and magazine ar- 
ticles. I have stated the theme in a way the most 
readily to bring out certain truths which seem to me 
to be vital in this connection. 

A. When a preacher suggests such a thought as 
that of the deterioration of mankind, which implies 
that the world is growing worse instead of better, the 
popular lecturer is ready to pronounce him a fool, and 
more than that, a blasphemer, flying in the very face 
of God. These are almost the exact words recently 
delivered from the lecture platform. So let us leave 
the preacher out of the account, and obtain the testi- 
mony of the scientist, the statistician, the statesman 
and the philanthropist. 

1. We naturally turn to science for this word 
eugenics is a technical, scientific term, coined, and re- 
cently brought into use to meet the need of the hour, 
as a name for a new science just struggling into being. 
Webster defines it: "The science of improving stock, 
either human or animal, or of plant life." It is gener- 
ally applied to human beings. The root idea is, well 
born ; and a common expression is, every child has the 
right to be well born; that is, should be permitted to 
come into this world as the offspring of healthy 
parents, under favorable conditions. This science is so 
new that its principles are not yet fully understood 

150 



nor its modes of operation formulated. Its aim is de 
clared by its friends to be 'the study of agencies under 
social control that may improve or impair the racial 
qualities of future generations.' We are further told 
that it has two sides; the negative, to discourage the 
propagation of bad stocks — the positive, to encourage 
the propagation of good stocks. Our wise men are 
now engaged in inquiries which it is hoped will be of 
great benefit to mankind; for these same wise men 
have discovered a very grave peril confronting human- 
ity. They tell us that the action of the principle of 
natural selection which determined the survival of apt 
or favored races among plants and animals, has to a 
large extent been evaded or suspended in the case of 
civilized man. Reference is made to the ruthless ac- 
tion of Nature in destroying all but a few — the most 
perfect of the rising generation, and then we are told 
that man ,"in proportion as he has become intelligent, 
has set himself to oppose this destruction of his less 
capable offspring, and to resist the selection of a strict- 
ly limited number precisely fitted to take the places or 
the elders who vacate by death. .... He dis- 
covers new foods, new protections, new powers. He 
rears the weak and sickly. He even allows and careful- 
ly enables them to propagate and to transmit their 
weaknesses, their defects of body and brain to new 

generations How then is it that man has 

not already become everywhere a diseased, broken- 
down, degenerate race? What will become of man in 
the future? .... It is probable, if the civilized 
races of men do not consciously adopt some method of 
selective breeding, that struggle and competition will 
develop at a later period between the different race 
groups of mankind, when the surface of the earth and 
the available sources of nutrition are fully taken up by 
the dense population of that awful future." This 
ominous warning is given in a report of the recent 
convention in London, where some 500 delegates, 
leading scientists from all parts of Europe and Amer- 
ica, met to face this peril and devise some means of re- 
lief. The report is made by one of England's foremost 

151 



scientists, and he thus voices the convention's sense 
of coming danger to mankind. If we carefully analyze 
this report of these distinguished scientists we shall 
first be impressed by their frank avowal that mankind 
is deteriorating, and so rapidly as to cause great con- 
cern. If things continue to move as at present an 
awful future awaits us. This is their verdict after a 
careful induction of all the facts obtainable. 

Further, in that awful future the surface of the 
earth will be occupied with so dense a population as to 
exhaust all sources of food supply, making the main- 
tenance of life extremely difficult. This will cause 
such a struggle and competition for the necessaries of 
life as the world has never known. The implication is 
that in our highly advanced stage of civilization we 
have become too lenient with the weaker elements of 
our kind, and must in some way get back to the sever- 
ity of nature in the laws of natural selection and the 
survival of the fittest. As a writer has suggested: 
"The enlightened eugenist is thoroughly alive to the 
situation. He sees clearly the grave danger that 
threatens the existence of humanity, or what would be 
worse, threatens to make them a race of demons. 
Everything, from the eugenic standpoint, depends 
upon the adoption by civilized man of some method of 
selective breeding. The feeble minded, diseased, and 
criminally disposed are permitted to wander about 
without restrain, and owing to the very fact of their 
feeblemindedness and want of self-control they con- 
stantly, among the poorer classes, produce children, 
and increase the number of semi-idiots, and feeble- 
minded, helpless individuals in the community. . . 
. . And the only remedy they have to offer is couch- 
ed in such vague and shadowy terms as 'a good 
stock, a stock which has within it germ matter which 
is good/ 'natural selection,' 'the survival of the fittest/ 
and 'a good system of selective breeding/ and all to 
be fostered by the newly discovered and yet unde- 
veloped science of eugenics." Surely no preacher, on 
his bluest Monday, ever pictured a more dismal pros- 
pect for the future of mankind upon this earth. 

152 



2. Let us now listen to the testimony of the statis- 
tician. Fifty years ago there was one criminal to 
every 3,442 of the population of our country; today, 
in a single state, there is one to every 250, suicides, in 
a single one of our large cities of 200,000 population, 
were 77 last year, while in former years such an event 
was almost unknown. Figures compiled from United 
States revenue reports, or from court records, or other 
equally reliable sources, show that notwithstanding 
all the temperance agitation and education and legisla- 
tion of recent years, the use of cigarettes, and of in- 
toxicating liquors is alarmingly on the increase 
throughout our country. That murders, and robbery, 
and theft, and arson, and impurity and divorce, are 
sweeping over the land like a mighty tidal wave jf 
evil. That a large proportion of the young men, es- 
pecially in our cities, are physically unfitted, and, 
what is worse, can never be fit for the responsibilities 
of the home life. The columns of figures along all 
these lines are nothing less than appalling, as we note 
the rapid increase from year to year. Look up for 
yourself the tabulated statements from all legitimate 
and reliable, secular and original sources, that have 
not been manipulated for partisan purposes, and then 
judge whether such a holocaust of crime and indecency 
is not proof conclusive of the deterioration of man- 
kind. These are not the pessimistic rantings of a dys- 
peptic preacher, but the actual conditions as expressed 
in cold figures. 

3. Turning now to the testimony of the statesman 
as expressed in his efforts at legislation what do we 
find? In England, Parliament has become so aroused 
on the subject as to inquire very seriously as to what 
can be done. Already some attempt at legislation has 
been made in the enactment of a law designed to pre- 
vent the marriage of such as are mentally deficient. 
But it is a question which taxes the brains even of 
an English Parliament to determine just how the 
state is to select authoritatively the members of society 
who are to be entrusted with the responsibility of par- 

153 



entage, and to exclude all others from mating. It is 
enough for our purpose to note the fact that the sense 
of actual peril which the scientists have expressed has 
now invaded the ranks of the statesmen of England, 
and that so conservative a body as the Parliament is 
trembling with anxiety. 

In this country, as we know, the several states have 
been wrestling with the question of divorce, so fear- 
fully on the increase, and the need of action by con- 
gress looking to federal regulation has been seriously 
urged. The conditions under which many of our work 
ing girls are compelled to labor is agitating our legisla- 
tors at the present time, and a resolution has been in- 
troduced into the lower house calling for the appoint- 
ment of an adequate committee to investigate these 
conditions. According to this resolution the indica- 
tions are that in New York the wages are so low that 
a decent standard of living, and healthful surround- 
ings, have become almost impossible. And further 
that vice and crime are bred of the needless misery 
coincident with the manufacture of the nation's cloth- 
ing, and that the manufacturing is carried on in filthy 
and unsanitary quarters, saturated with germs of cor- 
ruption, small pox, scarlet fever and other contagious 
diseases; thus constituting a serious menace and dan- 
ger to the welfare and health of all. By this move- 
ment it is desired to show the close connection which 
the intolerable economic conditions of the garment 
workers bears to vice and crime on the one hand, and 
how these economic conditions avenge themselves on 
all the people because the people allow them to exist. 
We may note that this resolution was introduced by a 
socialist member of the house of representatives, and 
therefore may not be supposed to be especially under 
the influence of the clergy. Yet the picture which he 
paints is a very dark one of the greed for gold, and the 
indifference to life and morals, in this age of boasted 
achievement. Surely something needs to be done for 
the betterment of humanity and the improvement of 
its stock, even in the enlightened civilization in which 
we glory, 

154 



4. What now is the testimony of the philanthropist 
on the question we are considering ? Among the many 
movements of the present day looking to the better- 
ment of humanity is one recently instituted by John 
D. Rockefeller, Jr. ; nothing less than a bureau of social 
hygiene, through which he and others of like spirit 
hope to alleviate social conditions which he considers 
"the greatest single menace to the perpetuation of the 
human race." He states this movement to be the out- 
grown of his service of six months as foreman of the 
grand jury, appointed to examine into the status of 
the white slave traffic. During that service he came 
to realize that the social evil, in the extent and horror 
of it, constitutes one of the great and vital world 
problems of the day. The bureau is prepared to make 
investigations in all the great cities of the world, simi- 
lar to that recently made by the vice commission in 
Chicago; to ascertain to what an extent the appalling 
conditions there discovered are prevalent elsewhere; 
and then to suggest any measures which may seem 
practicable for meeting the evil. In this connection he 
expresses very strongly his conviction as to the reason 
for the development of this fearful curse throughout 
the world. He declares it his belief that prostitution 
as now conducted in this country and in Europe is very 
largely a man's business ; the women are merely tools 
in the hands of the stronger sex. It is a business run 
for profit, and the profit is large, and while there are 
many contributing causes for the downfall of the 
women of the underworld, man is chiefly responsible 
for their fall. It is his belief that fewer than twenty- 
five per cent of the lost women of this country would 
have fallen if they had had an equally good chance to 
lead a pure life. It should be remembered that as 
foreman of the grand jury, Mr. Rockefeller had excep- 
tional opportunity for studying the conditions of which 
he speaks, and the discoveries he makes are enough to 
make a man blush for his sex. And to think that these 
conditions exist in this age of literature, and art, and 
aesthetic culture, and all that goes to make up a re- 

155 



fined civilization beyond anything the world has be- 
fore seen. 

I wish also to quote the testimony of Dr. Howarc 
Kelly, the famous surgeon of Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity. In an address to the Young Woman's Christian 
Association, he said: "The social evil is more wide 
spread, more menacing today than it has ever been be- 
fore. It claims its victims by the countless thousands. 
A terrible toll of innocent children is being taken year- 
ly in our cities, Washington as well as elsewhere, for 
purposes that I should not dare even to hint here. Un- 
der the surface the conditions are too horrible to por- 
tray, and conditions are continually becoming worse." 
We all understand how it is within the province of 
physicians and surgeons to know the conditions under 
the surface, and the trend of the current. 

One would hardly take the Detroit News to be a 
philanthropic journal, but a couple of recent editorials 
show how thinking men are compelled to view our 
present sociological conditions. Referring to the 
eugenic movement, and the great occasion for it, the 
writer places at the head of his article the striking 
title: "Eugenics or Asylums," thus intimating at the 
outset his feeling that unless we speedily do some- 
thing for the betterment of mankind we shall soon be 
compelled to build more asylums to house the unfor- 
tunate product of our deteriorating stock. After re- 
ferring to the phenominal interest in the subject 
within recent months he goes on to speak more par- 
ticularly in explanation of the eugenic movement. 
"Our race has suffered needless deterioration in silence 
for ages, most of the time through an exagerated and 
inconsistent development of what we are pleased to 

term modesty Eugenics is a science 

which looks to the systematic betterment of the race 
in every particular. Consequently it endeavors to in- 
sure that at least the greater proportion of children 
who come into the world may have the blessed ad- 
vantage of parentage which is physically sound, moral- 
ly sane, and educated to proper ideals as to their duty 
to the state and to their offspring. The converse of 

156 



this endeavor is an effort to limit as far as possible 
the union of persons who are manifestly unfit to be- 
come the parents of children or to have the responsibit 
ity of rearing them. It is a question which goes to the 
very foundation of society, and it is powerfully affect- 
ed by economic conditions It is time for 

the human race to awake to the peril of degeneration 
in this day of intensive commercialism and careless 
attitude toward the moral and physical welfare of its 
members." 

The other editorial was designed to point out the 
danger of our young people in connection with \,he 
modern dance. At the outset the writer makes refer- 
ence to certain popular dances with various outlandish 
names which are characterized as showing as perilous 
a disregard for the conventions of society as can be 
imagined outside utterly abandoned assemblies, and 
the fact is mentioned that such dances had to be for- 
bidden by the school authorities of Detroit at the grad- 
uating balls. Then the editorial continues : "One does 
not have to be innocent, one needs only to be grossly 
ignorant, not to see the double intention in a number 
of our most recent song titles, while the aim in the 
music seems to be the sensuous — for there is a sen- 
suousness, an immorality of music, just as there is an 
indecency of thought or word or deed. It is not in the 
low dives merely, nor among the abandoned, that we 
find such songs and dances in favor. They seem to 
have affected all classes of society. Young boys and 
girls chant the most disgusting rot — and one who is 
simple enough to believe that they are wholly uncon- 
scious of the hidden spirit of it all, is quite too simple 
to go home alone after dark The stamped- 
ing of Americans to these peculiar and disgusting 
forms of free and easy speech and behavior is one of 
the regrettable aspects of our modern social life. We 
have always prided ourselves on our freedom here ; we 
have boasted that the rigid chaperonage of Latin coun- 
tries was not needed here, because American gentle- 
men neither do nor countenance that which is not en- 
tirely above the most searching criticism; but it is to 

157 



be feared that in at least these two particulars we have 
inclined to tarnish that freedom with an inflow of 
license." 

This is what we learn concerning the terrible condi- 
tions maintaining in our social life; not from some 
mystic, hidden away in sheltered retreat; nor from 
some despondent preacher, who has lost the balance of 
his judgment; nor from some hypochondriac, giving 
us, Poe-like, the sombre colorings of a frightened im- 
agination. But rather, it is the view of men of affairs, 
strong minded, not over tinctured with religion ,and 
who have had full opportunity for acquiring a knowl- 
edge of the facts on which to base a correct opinion 
These men, among the brainiest of scientists, and phy- 
sicians, and financiers, and writers — to say nothing at 
all as to the opinion of ministers — such men of the 
world have become thoroughly alarmed at the possibil- 
ities of the future as indicated by the present trend 
and momentum of human life. And to think of such 
possibilities while we are living in the meridean splen- 
dor of the twentieth century, in the age of hygiene, 
and sanitary science, of humane and philanthropic en- 
terprises, and when we lay special claim to ethical cul- 
ture and refinement. 

B. We now turn to consider the new science of 
eugenics as a remedy for these deplorable conditions. 
We may conveniently consider this remedy under two 
heads; legislation and favorable environment. 

1. Legislation. 

a. It has been suggested that we have a law re- 
quiring all who desire marriage to present a certificate 
of good health and competency from a reputable phy- 
sician. It is claimed that such a law would accomplish 
great good in eliminating a large number of those who 
ought not to assume marital obligations. 

b. It is further suggested that there be a law for- 
bidding marriage in the case of the insane, semi-idiots, 
the physically incompetent, etc. This also would be a 
preventive measure, tending to safeguard society 

158 



against the multiplication of idiotic, or diseased or de- 
formed children. 

c. The proposition to prohibit the manufacture and 
sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, as well as 
the use of cigarettes, and regulating the sale of habit- 
forming drugs may also be considered as coming prop- 
erly within the scope of the eugenic movement — the 
effort for the betterment of mankind. It would seem 
impossible that any right-minded individual, any per- 
son who cares anything for his fellowmen, would op- 
pose such legislation. 

d. Woman suffrage is another feature of the pro- 
posed legislation. Its advocates are sure that if woman 
had the right of franchise their vote would help might- 
ily in securing eugenic legislation along many lines. 

e. The enactment of strict divorce laws by the fed- 
eral government is another suggestion. 

Now let me say in regard to all remedial legislation ; 
in every way possible let us buttress society with de- 
fences, and wherever a dyke has given way by all 
means as quickly as possible repair the breach. The 
need is certainly great. 

2. We come now to notice some of the measures 
proposed for the improvement of mankind which may 
properly come under the head of an improved environ- 
ment. 

a. A larger wage for women workers. Equality of 
the sexes in the matter. Equal pay for equal work is 
the cry, and the demand is just. 

b. A better place in which to work. No person, 
man or woman, ought to be compelled to work in a 
place and under surroundings which are a menace to 
health and morals. If reports are even measurably 
true some of the sweat shops of our cities are not fit 
for the hogs of a respectable farmer. 

c. Pleasant home surroundings for the family. At 
least make it impossible for several families, men, wo- 
men and children, to live in one room, in the midst of 
filth, and vermin and shame unspeakable. 

159 



(d) The abolition of child labor as now employed 
in many quarters. Give the child a chance. Oh, the 
slaughter of the innocents under the grinding com- 
mercialism of the present day! If the science of 
eugenics has anything for the child of the factory, in 
the name of all that is sacred let him have it. 

(e) A living wage for the head of the family. 
When a man has to work seven days in a week, in per- 
petual servitude, just to keep the wolf from the door; 
on the ragged edge of uncertainty day after day, won- 
dering what would become of his family if he should 
be ill for a week, or lose his position : while he knows 
that his employer has money to burn, and squanders 
his wealth with his family in ostentatious and sense- 
less display; is it any wonder that resentment burns 
within him at the inequality and injustice of it all? 

(f) The suppresion of the social evil. Here is 
one of the special fields of effort for the eugenic 
movement : a field of opportunity as magnificent as the 
task is herculean in proportion. Work has already 
begun in this line of service, and we surely wish the 
workers well in their arduous labor. Yet, after all 
that has been said of the science of eugenics, as to its 
name and aim, and the scope of its work and the need 
of the hour; I for one cannot help wondering if it be 
an adequate remedy for the diseased social conditions. 
Indeed, the more I think of it the more I am convinced 
that it is not the sovereign cure. I wish to be fair. 
The view presented of current moral conditions I be- 
lieve to be moderate. If all those whose testimony 
we have taken could get a view of these conditions 
from the angle of Bible truth I feel sure that they 
would become vastly more alarmed than they now 
are. There is no question but that the patient is des- 
perately sick. Then we have tried to be fair in giving 
full credit to the new science as a remedial agency. 
The aim of the promoters is good. No doubt of their 
sincere desire for the betterment of humanity. Nor 
any doubt that the various measures proposed in the 
way of legislation and environment, so far as they 

160 



could be made practical, would have a tendency to 
improve the conditions. But after you have said the 
last favorable word it still remains true that eugenics 
stands for betterment rather than cure. It is simply 
palliative, and not radical. This slogan of its pro- 
moters — the betterment of mankind — reveals their 
failure properly to diagnose the disease. They are 
talking of improved conditions rather than removing 
the cause of the malady. They are talking of gen- 
eration, while something far more radical than that 
is needed. Their whole theory, whether consciously 
or not, is based upon the doctrine of evolution, and 
the Darwinian theory of natural selection and the sur- 
vival of the fittest. Improve the stock is the cry, all 
unmindful of the need of an absolutely new stock. 
We cannot escape the conclusion that the whole sys- 
tem of eugenics is superficial, and therefore fatally 
defective as an actual remedy for the deterioration of 
mankind. It goes upon the assumption that the 
patient needs no medicine. Give him fresh air, and 
good food, and a pleasant home, and congenial com- 
pany, and freedom from care, and all will be well. 
And yet we are confronted with the fact that change 
of environment does not reform the criminal. Educa- 
tion does not necessarily keep a man moral. Culture 
does not remove depravity. With all the training 
and refinement and polish of the present day these 
abominable conditions prevail. It has been repeatedly 
shown that you may change the conditions, and ob- 
tain temporary improvement, but presently there is 
a reversion to the old type of life. Clean out the sty, 
and disinfect it as you may, wash its occupant till 
the bristles gleam in the sunlight — that's the province 
of eugenics, betterment — and presently the hog will 
be found wallowing in the mire, and the pen will be 
filthy as before. Somehow we come back from our 
survey of the nature and the work of the science of 
euegnics with the conviction that this old world has 
a supreme need which eugenics can never satisfy, 
something beyond the power of social service, or strict 

161 



legislation, or improved environment, or greater intel- 
ligence, or a more refined civilization. And since these 
things are all that eugenics has to offer we must look 
elsewhere for a real cure for human ills. 

Allow me to close this paper with an old Jewish pic- 
ture of a true home. The wife says concerning her 
offspring, "For this child I prayed." Why was not 
this a good prayer for a good wife? For myself I 
think it is a great pity that in so many American 
homes children are considered an encumbrance, and for 
a wife to express a desire for a child is considered im- 
modest. We need to get back to the old-fashioned 
conception of the blessedness of family life. Children 
used to be considered as a gracious gift from God. 
Today we have come to look upon them as in the na- 
ture of disgrace, not to be mentioned in polite circles; 
while we lavish the affection designed for children 
upon cats and poodle dogs. In a crowded street I 
heard a well-dressed lady scream in affright. I thought 
her child must be in imminent peril. I looked, and 
behold! it was her darling puppy. To what depths 
of poverty must that woman be sunk who must bestow 
upon an animal the affection which belongs to a child ! 
Thank God for the sensible, Hannah-like women who 
yet remain. I know a young married woman who 
loves children, and who desires to have children of her 
own, and is not ashamed to own it. With one child 
in her arms, upon which the wealth of her great 
mother heart is lavished, she is planning how many 
more she can properly care for and train for God. 
I know that in this story of Hannah we are treading 
upon holy ground: and yet, if our hearts be pure we 
may enter even here. I notice that Hannah prayed 
for this child before it was conceived, and in the light 
of subsequent facts I cannot but believe that in that 
prayer she included the consecration of her offspring 
to God. And further, that her husband shared with 
lier in this earnest desire for a child in whom God 
should be glorified. We thus have a beautiful picture 
of conjugal fidelity, and devotion to each other and 

162 



to God, pure and simple and refreshing; at the farth- 
est possible remove from the earthly and the sensual. 
They had the same true and adequate view of the 
high and holy task of parenthood. It is greatly to be 
feared that a very large number of children are born 
in wedlock, not like Samuel in answer to prayer, but 
only as an accidental result of the indulgence of animal 
passion. To a properly trained mind the generation 
of a human being is the exercise of the highest and 
most sacred function of our nature. Eugenics says 
a child has the right to be well-born. Samuel was 
well-born. To be well-born in the highest sense, today 
as in the olden time, is for the child to be an answer 
to prayer, and consecrated before birth to the service 
of Jehovah, and afterward like Samuel hearing the 
divine call to a new life. If we gave the scientist the 
first word the preacher most have the last. The sci- 
ence of eugenics which shall effectually and perma- 
nently uplift humanity must include the birth which 
is from above as well as the natural. 



168 



THE MINISTER. 

On the fourteenth day of April, 1865, occurred the 
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the president of 
the United States, the Savior of his country. On that 
same memorable evening ,your speaker, then a mere 
youth, stood before a select company of friends and 
official representatives of the church of which he was 
a member, and undertook to preach his trial sermon. 
The gathering was a very informal one, in a little 
farm house, the home of a family connected with the 
church. I have not a scratch of pen or pencil to indi- 
cate the line of thought pursued. I only remember 
the text, but that perhaps of itself is suggestive 
enough of the entire effort of the evening. "0 that 
I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and 
be at rest." I have no idea as to my reason for choos- 
ing that particular text. Perhaps my thoughts had 
already taken flight and I longed to follow. Be that 
as it may, a few weeks later I had an appointment 
to preach at a school house, and not long after I re- 
ceived the following document, preserved to the pres- 
ent with speical care. 

"Stillman Valley, 111., July 1st, 1865. 

This certifies that the bearer, Wilson Whitney, is 
a member of the Baptist church of Stillman Valley 
without reproach, and that he has the full and cordial 
approbation of his brethren, by a vote passed, June 
24th, 1865, to exercise his gifts in preaching the gos- 
pel of Christ. By order and in behalf of the church. 

T. H. BAKER, Church Clerk." 

The following six years were spent in preparatory 
study, preaching as opportunity offered, and on Sept. 
20th, 1871, I was publicly ordained to the work of the 

164 



ministry, at Rockton, 111., only a few miles from the 
old home church; as the following: certificate shows: 

"Rockton, 111., Sept. 20th, 1871. 

This is to certify that at the above time and place 
Wilson Whitney was ordained to the work of the gos- 
pel ministry according to Baptist usage, by a council 
convened for that purpose. 

JOHN FULTON, Moderator. 
"H. C. MABIE, Clerk." 

These two documents were the voice of the church 
and the denomination bidding me enter upon this 
sacred calling, but if you ask me of the call of God 
I must go back to the days of my childhood. In the 
month of March, 1858, the Lord gave me the assur- 
ance of his pardoning love. The place, the day, the 
hour, the circumstances are indellibly impressed upon 
my memory. As the light broke in, and peace flowed 
like a river it seemed for the first few minutes too 
good to last, and the suggestion came not to tell any- 
one for the present but to wait and see. But if it 
were too good to last, it was also too good to keep, and 
in less than half an hour, in spite of my resolution to 
wait, I had broken the news in my mother's ear; and 
to tell you the truth I have never been able to hold 
it in from that hour. A day or two afterward, in a 
letter to my only sister, I member quoting these 
words : 

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 

In a believer's ear; 
Fain would I sound it out so loud 

That all the world might hear." 

If ever I had a divine call to preach the gospel it 
was in connection with the work of the Holy Spirit 
in regeneration. It was a part of the endowment of 
the new birth. I cannot recall an hour from that 
day on through all the changes of youth and young 

165 



manhood, when I did not expect to be a minister. It 
was with me as the controlling influence of my being, 
shaping all the lines of character and conduct. 

Do you ask me if, after all these years of experi- 
ence, I find the ministry a work of pleasure ? I reply ; 
to the willing and obedient servant of the Lord there 
comes joy unutterably sweet, and intense and lasting. 
I have seen ministers who soured on their work, and 
left it for secular employments, with an apparent 
sense of injured innocence and petulant grief. I con- 
fess to utter lack of ability to comprehend their ex- 
perience. I am glad to testify, to the praise of the 
glory of divine grace, that my darkest days (and some 
days have been very dark) have been redolent with 
the perfume of the Rose of Sharon about my path- 
way, and have brought to me such blessed intimacies 
with my beloved Lord as fairly to make amends for 
all the gloom. The testimony of one who had come 
to grey hairs in the work of the ministry does but 
echo the sentiment of my own heart. "For my own 
part, if I had to choose again a hundred times my 
course in life, I should choose the ministry. It is not 
only that necessity is laid upon me — that I should 
have to say, Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel — 
it is not only that I feel my Master's call commanding 
me, and the needs and dangers of my brethren press- 
ing me — it is not only that there is a constant instinct 
and impulse urging me (whether I like it or no) to 
try to make the light of the glorious Gospel of the 
Lord Jesus Christ shine more brightly on human 
hearts amidst the world's darkness and sin; but it is 
also that I have found ministerial work so full of inter? 
est and joy that every other employment would seem 
dull in comparison." 

With thus much of personal reference shall we 
now turn to consider the minister: his call, his mis- 
sion, his object, his spirit, his reward. In the devel- 
opment of this analysis we may have frequent occa- 
sion to refer to the Apostle Paul by way of illustration. 

166 



(a) In regard to a call to the ministry we max 
say emphatically that it must be a call from God. 
When and how are matters of secondary importance, 
but the voice itself must be the voice of God. Else 
the minister is acting without authority. Hear the 
testimony of the great apostle upon this point, refer- 
ring to his experinece on the way to Damascus. "And 
I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying, " . . . 
I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise, and 
stand upon thy feet; for I have appeared unto thee 
for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a wit- 
ness both of those things which thou hast seen, and 
of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." 
Unless one has a divine call, and is made a minister 
by the Lord Almighty all the making of the schools 
will avail nothing. And yet, lest I should be misun- 
derstood, let me suggest that while the call to each 
minister today, to be effective, must be from God a*s 
surely as Paul was called of God, we may not expect 
the same miraculous circumstances as in the case of 
Paul. Even those who discard the miraculous sur- 
roundings as a necessary and essential part of regen- 
eration may sometimes be in danger of immagining 
that somehow or other there must be something mar- 
velous about the method of the call to the ministry. 
Let such learn a lesson from the experience of a col- 
ored brother. Wrought up to a high pitch of excite- 
ment, he lay down to sleep, and as he slept he dreamed. 
He thought he saw a fiery scroll flung across the 
heavens with the mystic letters, G. P. C. in large cap- 
itals. On awaking he was in an ecstacy of delight, 
interpreting his dream as a direct revelation from 
God, calling him to the ministry. Telling his dream 
the next day to some one not in sympathy with his 
thought of entering the ministry, he assured the 
man of his call from the significance of those mystic 
letters, G. P. C., which clearly meant, Go preach 
Christ. "Oh, no," said the other,, "you mistook the 
call. Those letters meant, Go pick cotton." So let 
us be careful lest we find ourselves trying to gather 

167 



wheat when our call is to the cotton field. 1 have no 
question that a great many such mistakes are made. 
The Holy Spirit ordinarily speaks with a still small 
voice, in harmony with the general trend of the re- 
vealed Word, and of one's own natural capacities and 
powers. In this sense one is called from his birth to 
the work for which he is specially fitted. A man with- 
out a palate evidently is not called to preach, nor if 
he have any other physical defect which would render 
it impossible for him to do the work of the ministry. 
So an individual with physical functions and organs 
perfect in their development, but evidently fitted for 
other work, may well be satisfied, in my opinion, to 
do that other work for which nature has given spe- 
cial fitness. Perhaps the young ladies present may 
see the force and drift of this remark. The duties 
of wifehood and motherhood are so high, and holy and 
essential that it has always seemed to me passing 
strange that one should willingly surrender them ; and 
from all the light I have yet been able to get I can- 
not see any reason to believe that God calls women to 
make such a sacrifice, except it be in very rare in- 
stances. I fear that much of the so-called exaltation 
of woman, and enlargement of her sphere, is a real 
degradation and shrivelling of her opportunities. The 
mightiest words of human speech are Mother, Home, 
Heaven. Oh, woman ! do all you can to maintain their 
purity and power. Before leaving this point of a 
call to the ministry suffer a caution. Do not think a 
long period of mental conflict and soul agony is a nec- 
essary accompaniment of a divine call. A bit of per- 
sonal experience may be helpful just here. As I have 
already said, I never had a thought of any other 
work than that of the ministry from the day of my 
conversion. 

It was not until some months after I had received 
my license from the church, and was busily and hap- 
pily engaged in the work of preparation that a cloud 
arose over my head. The occasion was this. In order 
to continue in school it was necessary for me to have 

168 



financial aid, and so I applied to the Education So- 
ciety. It was their custom to have all applicants ex- 
amined by a committee of prominent ministers as to 
their call to preach, fitness for the work, etc. On the 
appointed day quite a large number of students pre- 
sented themselves before the committee. As I was 
one of the youngest my turn came among the last. 
As I listened to the experience of one after another 
I was surprised to hear them speak of severe mental 
and spiritual conflicts, sometimes protracted through 
years, and only after some strange discipline were they 
finally led to give themselves to the work of the Lord. 
Only one of all the number had an experience like 
my own, and for the first time in my life I began to 
wonder whether I had really been called of God to 
preach His Word. To be sure there was one whose 
experience was like my own, but wasn't it likely that 
he, as well as myself, was mistaken? With this first 
trial of conflicting emotions working within me, my 
turn came and I arose to give the committee my ex- 
perience. I told them how I had always felt about it, 
and that if such darkness and trial as most of my 
fellow students had spoken of were necessary to a call 
to the ministry than I had never been called. I never 
shall forget the remarks of one of the committee in 
reply, to the effect that the darkness and conflict were 
because of unwillingness to yield to the will of God, 
and that if I had been enabled to surrender without 
such struggle I ought to be very thankful. His few 
timely words solved the problem for me, and my first 
cloud upon this matter was my last. I believe we 
might avoid very much of the bitter of life if we 
would always keep in mind the principle then sug- 
gested to me, and always submit to the will of God 
without a struggle. 

(b) Called of God ,the minister is called to an 
important mission: no less than that of heaven's rep- 
resentative to a lost world. Paul put it in this way: 
"Now then we are embassadors for God; as if God did 
beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be 

169 



ye reconciled to God/' And again: "I am determined 
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ 
and Him crucified." The command of the Master 
to certain of his disciples at one time is applicable to 
his ministers for all time: "As ye go, preach." The 
minister is first of all, and primarily, a preacher; and 
the enduring substance of his preaching is a living 
Christ. The efficient minister, and the only one who 
may expect the divine approval is the one who can 
make the words of the great apostle his own: "Him, 
therefore, I proclaim.' A philosophy no more satisfies 
the needs of men today than in the apostolic age. 
Higher culture, higher learning, higher criticism may 
all be well enough in their way, but suffering humanity 
can neevr be satisfied with anything short of a living 
Christ. Some one has said: "Many thoughtful men 
are saying ,and truly saying: Make the most of your- 
self. Develop and strengthen all the good that is in 
you. Suppress and erradicate all that is low and un- 
worthy. Give free scope to all your heaven endowed 
faculties. Make yourself pure and clean and Godlike. 
Liberalism says that, culture says that, Plato, Goethe 
and Emerson say that, Paul says that, better still 
Christ says it. Oh yes, and, best of all, He tells us 
how to make the most of ourselves, to develop and 
strengthen all the good there is in us, to make us 
pure, and clean and Godlike, and to attain to those 
lofty ideals which in our better moments beckon us 
up the rocky pathway to heaven. It is this, to believe 
on him." And so we come back to the thought that 
the burden of the preacher's message is a person 
rather than a theory. Not Christianity even, but 
Christ; not a system of morals, but Christ ,a living 
ideal; not the law, but Christ the Lawgiver; not con- 
troversy, but Christ the end of controversy; not con- 
tentions and strivings about the Law, but Christ; not 
intellect, but Christ ; that we may know Him, and pro- 
claim Him till the whole earth shall be filled with His 
glory. Even in *^e days of the early Christians, while 
Paul moved among them, there were the beginnings 

170 



of what afterwards came to be a distinct cult, claim- 
ing a deeper philosophy, and a broader knowledge of 
the spiritual world than that of the gospel plan. Con- 
cerning these tendencies of thought the apostle utters 
strong protest as a departure from the simplicity 
which is in Christ. These embryotic theosophic phil- 
osophers gave a peculiar turn to certain words, gnosis, 
knowledge; and pleroma, fulness; by which they as- 
sumed a deep and theosophic insight into the mys- 
teries of theology, and to partake of the fulness of the 
Godhead by initiation into an esoteric system. Theirs 
was a hidden wisdom, known only to the initiated. As 
directly opposed to all this Paul preached Christ, as 
the wisdom of God and the power of God ; urging every 
one to know the love of Christ which passeth gnosis, 
that they might be filled with all the pleroma, the ful- 
ness of God. In Christ we have the true gnosis, inti- 
mate association and fellowship with Him who is the 
true pleroma. To this day the humble follower of 
Christ is the true gnostic, the true theosophist. The 
caution of the apostle is not yet out of date: "Beware 
lest any man spoil you through philsoophy and vain de- 
ceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments 
of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." 

While it is the first and imperative duty of the min- 
ister, by preaching, to feed the flock of God, dividing 
to every one his portion in due season ; he must not for- 
get that it is also his duty, by pastoral visitation, to 
shepherd the flock. The minister is a preacher, he is 
also a pastor; and in the ordinary field of labor this 
part of his work must not be neglected. Some men, 
of studious habits and special oratorical gifts, will be 
tempted to put an undue proportion of time upon their 
pulpit ministrations. They have little taste for the 
ordinary routine of pastoral work, and are likely to 
underrate its value. A man who for a time had been 
in the ministry, but had (fortunately for the cause as 
it seemed to me) drifted into more congenial em- 
ployment, once said to me : "Don't you get awful tired 

171 



having people ask you all sorts of fool questions?" 
Surely there is the prosaic and monotonous phase of 
pastoral work, but a warm heart, eager to please the 
Master and win souls, will not weary of the work be- 
cause of this. The true minister will find in pastoral 
#ork a constant spur and preparation for his pulpit 
work. Often will a quiet conversation in some humble 
cottage, with what the world might term very hum- 
drum sort of people, suggest a line of thought which, 
when elaborated in the study, and presented in the 
pulpit, will be an inspiration to every hearer. The 
themes thus suggested by contact with his people will 
have the merit of freshness and adaptation. They do 
not smell of the barrel, nor yet of the intellectual dis- 
secting room ; but growing out of the present felt need 
of one hearer, and studied with reference to his needs, 
they will prove helpful to many. The sermons thus 
prepared are not literary curiosities, but food for the 
soul. In this way the pastoral work will supplement 
one's work as a preacher, and prepare him for bettei 
work in the future in both directions. It is the work of 
t.he minister as pastor rather than preacher that brings 
him into close range with his people, and in this close 
contact, if he be wise and tactful and sympathetic, he 
will forge the chains, that will bind him to his people 
in enduring bonds of affection. 

An incidental benefit of pastoral work is the oppor- 
tunity it affords for gathering illustrative material for 
his study. If his eye and mind be quick to work to- 
gether, and to turn everything to spiritual account, it 
is wonderful the amount of material which may be 
gathered even in the dullest round of pastoral work. 
Just a single instance to make myself understood. I 
met a man one bright winter day carrying a lighted 
lantern along the street. I might have thought in 
passing, what a foolish thing to do, and have allowed 
the incident to pass out of mind. But force of habit 
long cultivated led me differently. At once I said to 
myself: I wonder what spiritual truth is in this un- 
usual circumstance. Soon it occurred to me that in 

172 



the close of this Nineteenth century, in the blaze of 
light with which the Sun of righteousness has illum- 
inated the world, we find every now and then a person 
still determined to walk by the lantern light of his own 
unaided reason. Poor man! He does not seem to 
know that the sun shines. A few days later I learned 
why the man whom I saw was carrying his lantern 
in broad day. To guard against the cold during a long 
drive he had taken the lantern to place between his 
feet. He was not so very foolish after all. And then 
another lesson came to me. How often we should 
judge people more favorably if we knew them better. 
And still further, we should not so often charge God 
with folly if we only knew the reasons for his con- 
duct. Thus we see by this apparently trifling incident 
that if we will we may secure numberless illustrations 
of spiritual truth, which may be used as opportunity 
offers with telling effect. 

(c) Without dwelling longer upon the mission of 
the minister let me call your attention to the direct 
object of his work. We find this object clearly stated 
by the apostle Paul : "that I may bring every man into 
his presence full grown in Christ. To this end I labor." 
In a certain sense Paul was a universalist. He believed 
that every man by nature is lost. Jew and Gentile, 
bond and free, cultured and barbarian; God hath 
concluded all under sin. He quotes with approval from 
the Old Testament: "There is none that doeth good, 
no, not one. They are all gone out of the way, they 
are together become unprofitable." On account of 
their lost condition he believed that every man should 
be warned, and so he raised his voice, and told lost 
men of the indignation and wrath, the tribulations and 
anguish resting upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil. Day after day, penetrating even to distant parts, 
he warned every man with tears. He believed in the 
possible value of the atonement for every man. "Glory 
honor and peace to every man that doeth good." He 
believed that every man who heeded the warning of 
love, and accepted the offer of salvation through the 

178 



blood of the atonement had the privilege of mature 
growth, and so he labored to present every believer 
full grown in Christ. The end of his work was not 
reached until such maturity had been attained. To 
this end he rightly divided the word of truth, giving 
the sincere milk or the strong meat as the case re- 
quired. If ministers will be universalists along Paul's 
line I am content. In such a case no fear of his say- 
ing peace, peace, when there is no peace. No danger 
of his handling the word of God deceitfully, or holding 
out the hope of a future probation, or being satisfied 
with a generation of pigmies in the household of faith. 

(d) The next point I wish you to note in the work 
of the true minister is the spirit in which he labors; 
and again I revert to the most conspicuous example in 
the early church, the Apostle Paul. He says : "To this 
end I labor in earnest conflict, according to His inward 
working, which works in me with mighty power." We 
thus see that the ministers toil is simply the outwork- 
ing of the divine inworking. Unless a man is con- 
scious from day to day of a mighty inward operation 
of the Holy Spirit; whatever else he may do, let him 
not enter upon the ministry of reconciliation. Like 
Samson of old, he can prove himself a mighty man 
of valor only as the spirit of the Lord shall come 
mightily upon him ; and if this be with him only as an 
intermittent experience, then too like Samson he will 
often be shorn of his strength. 

(e) In closing I wish to say a word upon the min- 
ister's reward. He shall have many warm personal at- 
tachments of the worthiest kind. He shall be con- 
scious of being engaged in a service in behalf of a 
cause of surpassing magnitude and grandeur. He 
shall have special privileges in the way of communion 
with God ,through his Word and Spirit. He shall have 
souls for his hire. "They that turn many to righteous- 
ness shall shine as the stars forever and ever." And 
when his task is done he shall have the approval of his 
Lord. "Well done ,thou good and faithful servant." 

174 



A Christian poet has caught the vision and put it into 
verse: 

"'Servant of God, well done; 

Rest from thy loved employ ; 

The battle fought, the victory won, 

Enter thy Master's joy.' 

The voice at midnight came; 

He started up to hear, 

A mortal arrow pierced his frame: 

He fell— but felt no fear. 

Tranquil amidst alarms, 
It found him in the field, 
A veteran slumbering on his arms, 
Beneath his red-cross shield; 
His sword was in his hand, 
Still warm with recent fight; 
Ready that moment, at command, 
Through rock and shield to smite. 

At midnight came the cry, 

To meet thy God prepare!' 

He woke — and caught his Captain's eye : 

Then, strong in faith and prayer, 

His spirit, with a bound, 

Burst its encumbering clay; 

His tent at sunrise, on the ground, 

A darkened ruin lay. 

The pains of death are past, 
Labor and sorrow cease; 
And life's long warfare closed at last, 
His soul is found in peace. 
Soldier of Christ! well done; 
Praise be thy new employ; 
And while eternal ages run, 
Rest in thy Savior's joy." 



175 



THE PASTOR IN THE PULPIT. 

The pastor in the pulpit. Not the preacher abstract- 
ly considered, not the evangelist, nor the occasional 
supply, nor the preacher of an associational or con- 
vention sermon. A practical problem confronts the 
pastor as he enters his pulpit. How can I use this 
brief hour so that my people shall receive spiritual 
uplift, each individual receiving his portion in due 
season? Whatever suggestions I make toward the so- 
lution of this problem will be drawn from my own 
personal experience. Of course we need much in the 
way of preparation for pulpit work that is also needed 
for effective work in the home and in the study. No 
pastor can do the best work in any direction who does 
not maintain habitually a close walk with Christ in 
loving fellowship and communion. A worldly minded 
pastor, careless and indifferent in regard to his chris- 
tian experience, cannot fitly represent the spiritual 
Christ anywhere. 

1. Pulpit address. 

(a) For affective pulpit work the pastor must con- 
sciously stand before his people as an accerdited rep- 
resentative of Jesus Christ, and be able so to repre- 
sent him that the people who look up into his face and 
listen to his voice shall recognize something of the 
features and tone of the Master himself. This, it is 
needless to say, cannot be on the Lord's Day unless 
the preceding six days have been spent in company 
with the Lord. A close, loving, habitual walk with 
the Master is indispensible, if the pastor is to do the 
work to which he is called in the pulpit. We must 
be able to say with Paul, "I know Him." 

(b) Next to knowing the Master, we must know the 
message. An idle thing to speak without something 

176 



definite to say, to make haste to run without knowing 
the errand upon which we are sent, to assume to rep- 
resent the court of Heaven wtihout knowing the mind 
of the King. Of course in a general way we may say 
that our work is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
There ought never to be any doubt upon that point. 
"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall pre- 
pare himself for the battle?" Upon the great funda- 
mentals of truth we ought to be clear as the tones of a 
bell, and the combined harmony of our message should 
be like the music of heavenly chimes. Let the man 
who can only speculate, and theorize, and philosophize 
and moralize ,and who has no stock in trade but sim- 
pering sentimentalism and pious platitudes be silent till 
he learns the mind of the Spirit. Quoting from another : 
"The Christian preacher comes to his congregation as a 
herald or authorized messenger from God. His first 
and principal duty is to see that his message is really 
delivered. "What on earth shall I say next Sunday? 
How shall I ever fill out my twenty pages of sermon 
paper, or my fifteen minutes of sermon time ? " Is not 
this a pitiful line of questioning for one who comes as 
a messenger from the living God to immortal souls? 
Why did you ask for authority to preach the gospel 
in the church of God? Why did you declare your trust 
that you were inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to 
your office and administration if when you come face 
to face with your people you do not know what to say 
to them? * * * Surely that which is in my 
thoughts from day to day and hour to hour, that which 
is the comfort and strength, and joy of my life, — that 
which is the most familiar and precious thing in my 
heart, though so great and marvelous that my heart 
can hardly utter it. If I do not know what this is, no 
matter how well I might be able to speak, I could not 
be a Christian preacher. The message we have to de- 
liver, and the substance of our teaching, may be de- 
scribed in many ways, but I believe the simplest and 
clearest description of it is that which we so often find 
in the New Testament — 'preaching Christ/ God's 

177 



great revelation to man in the gospel was not a set of 
accurate propositions, nor a set of definite precepts, 
but a living person. The Christian creed is the history 
of that person. Christian faith is the affiance of the 
heart to that person. Christian morality is the fol- 
lowing of that person. Christian love, and joy, and 
peace, and hope and power to conquer all center round 
that person. Here then is what we have to preach — 
Christ, the manifestation of God, the Savior of sinners, 
the Holy Sovereign of mankind." 

When any preacher stands before a congregation he 
should be full to overflowing of this theme, and be pre- 
pared to preach it in demonstration of the spirit and 
in power. But when the pastor stands before his own 
flock another element is added — that of adaptation. He 
is not drawing his bow at a venture, as in the case of 
an occasional sermon to a strange audience. He is now 
face to face with those over whom the Lord has placed 
him as the undershepherd. These are the ones whom 
he has been meeting through all the week in the varied 
activities of life. There is the business man he met the 
other day in the store, who seemed so lacking in spirit- 
ual life. There is the housewife, Martha-like, with 
whom he had a few minutes conversation but yesterday 
on the supreme value of the one thing needful. There 
is the care-worn mother who has evidently come with 
a longing for a little help and a bit of comfort. There 
is Mr. Smith, the farmer, cool and phlegmatic in tem- 
perament; and Mr. Jones, the teacher with intense 
nervous organization; old neighbor Gray, staid and 
precise as the aged mare that brought him to church; 
and neighbor Young, happy as a lark and gay as a 
butterfly. There is the young couple, but just united 
in the holy bonds of matrimony and painfully self 
conscious, even yet; and there is the widow, whose 
support and stay in life you laid in the grave early in 
the week.. Troops of light hearted school children, 
care free ; and young men and maidens who have been 
kept close at work in shops and offices all the week, 
with long hours and short pay. The good mother in 

178 



Israel, to whom anything her pastor shall say is just 
right; and the offended member in the miff-tree, who 
expects you to blow his ruffled feathers into still wild- 
er confusion. All these you see before you as you 
glance over the congregation with a yearning to be of 
service to them all, if it please God. Yes, if you have 
entered the pulpit in the spirit of prayerfulness, with 
hearts ease in your bosom, you long to do good to every 
one, the most indifferent and the most hypercritical; 
for are they not all your people? You have been 
thinking about them all the week, praying with them 
in their homes and for them in your study; and this 
Sunday morning service is the supreme hour toward 
which all the other hours of the week have been tend- 
ing. Now is your time to suit the message to the 
hearer, to take the bread of life and break it up into 
morsels that all may have a share. Your principal 
thought, Sunday after Sunday may be intended for 
different classes, yet each Sunday there should be 
something, somewhere, in sermon or song or scrip- 
ture or prayer to touch every one who may enter the 
sanctuary. Your most intimate friends, the outer cir- 
cle of acquaintance, and even the stranger whom you 
may never have met, the saint and the sinner, one 
and all should somehow be impressed with a sense 
of the immanence of God and the practicalness of 
truth. 'To each their portion/ 

(c) Then, too, besides the element of adaptation 
the pastor should exemplify in the pulpit what we may 
call the personal element. Preaching a living person, 
he should preach as to living men and women, with 
hearts throbbing with intensity of emotion, and should 
so address himself to their inner consciousness as to 
make them feel the application of his words. Upon 
occasion he must be to them as the prophet Nathan 
to the sinning King: "Thou art the man." Said a 
worldly minded Christian girl to her pastor, after 
she had renounced the world, and became faithful to 
her Christian obligations: "I just couldn't help it. I 
sat before vou Sunday after Sunday and you slapped 

179 



me in the face till I could not stand it any longer, and 
I made up my mind to get out of the way." So she 
got out of the way, not by leaving the church, but 
by doing her duty, so that the shafts of truth ne 
longer had application to her. Yet the pastor had 
only been preaching in as loving a way as possible 
upon the requirements of a godly life. Another young 
lady, a comparative stranger, who did not suppose that 
her religious attitude was known to the pastor, said 
to him at the close of a service: "If I did not know 
to the contrary I should think that you knew all about 
me, and were preaching at me all the time." The fact 
was that he did know much more about her than she 
supposed, and of set purpose aimed the truth at her 
heart. 

(d) As a faithful shepherd the pastor in the pulpit 
must take care to feed the flock, sheep and lambs, and 
tear the sheep's clothing from the wolf's back. As a 
wise physician of souls he must properly diagnose the 
case, and suit the remedy to the disease. Sometimes 
there will be a prevailing spiritual condition through- 
out the church which may need special attention. The 
pulse may be low, and the spirits despondent. I re- 
member a time when for months I did nothing in the 
pulpit but ring the changes on faith and hope. And 
it is wonderful how rich in specifics and antidotes for 
this depressed spiritual condition is the laboratory 
of the Word. Sometimes you may descry a crisis in the 
near future, and may need to prepare your people to 
meet it. At such a time, in my own experience as pas- 
tor, I sought to make every public service for weeks 
alive with the intense st spiritual fervor, so that any- 
thing unkind in speech or conduct among the mem- 
bership would seem utterly out of place, and they 
would feel a holy compulsion to speak the things that 
make for peace. As a result one of the most violent 
in temper, and intemperate in speech, asserted that 
for a month we had been held under a spell so that 
one could not express an opinion. Oh that such spells 

180 



were more frequent and long continued, wherein it 
would be impossible to express bitter thoughts and 
harsh criticisms. 

Sometimes a grievous lapse from the path of recti- 
tude on the part of a prominent member of the church 
may furnish a fitting opportunity to emphasize the 
moralities, and the prohibitions of the decalogue may 
be the principal source of supply for pulpit themes. 
Such an occasion may enable us to enforce the fact 
that the gospel gives no license to sin. "How shall 
they who are dead to sin live any longer therein?" 
The christian is bound at least to be a moral man, 
clean in his speech and upright in his life. The pro- 
fessor of religion who fails to keep out of the meshes 
of the civil law is a reproach and a disgrace to the 
name he bears. 

2. Having said so much upon the subject matter of 
pulpit address it may not be amiss to say a few words 
about the pastor's conduct in the pulpit. 

(a) He should be wary in regard to all eccentrici- 
ties of dress, manner or speech in the pulpit. However 
it may be with the evangelist, the pastor cannot afford 
to cultivate mannerisms, or to be otherwise than 
quietly, and earnestly and reverently natural as he 
stands before his people on the Lord's Day, with the 
truth of God in his hand and his heart. His very 
manner as he ascends the pulpit stairs should give sug- 
gestion at once of the rest of faith, the intensity of 
conviction, the yearning for souls and the realities of 
eternity. The very first sound of his voice in the 
formal invocation should be reassuring, and lift the 
hearer into the atmosphere of true worship. In the 
reading of the hymns he should so give the sense of 
the author as to lift the heart in prayer and praise. 
It is a great pity that so few pastors can read a sim- 
ple hymn effectively. Let the reading of the scriptures 
be thoughtful and reverent, with an evident listening 
for the still small voice of the Spirit ; and let the pray- 
er be a communion with the Lord regarding the needs 

181 



of the people, then present, as well as the great world 
needs. Always in the spirit of worshipful thanksgiv- 
ing. We should never forget that in the scripture les- 
son rightly interpreted God speaks to us, while in the 
prayer we speak to God, with an undercurrent of reply 
in each. Thus the spirit of true worship will be fos- 
tered, and what are usually considered the introductory 
exercises will come to assume their rightful position 
as an essential part of the service; genuine worship, 
fitting the congregation for the message from heaven 
through the lips of God's servant. 

As to the sermon I will give you the substance of 
what the famous Welch preacher, Christmas Evans, 
had to say: "Observe how the smith deals with the 
iron ; carefully he lays it in the fire, gently and deftly 
he draws the coals all over it, then gradually the bel- 
lows blow the embers into a warmer glow; quietly he 
stands by; the great hammer is idle in his brawny 
hand till he sees that the proper heat is reached ; then 
the glowing iron all hot and sparkling, is laid on the 
anvil and blow after blow falls upon it irresistibly. 
Harder and harder he hits ,and never stops for breath 
till the iron is plunged into the water, beaten into its 
proper shape. So should the preacher deal with the 
human soul. Quietly and gently he should put him into 
contact with the truth of God; with care and skilful 
exposition its meaning should be brought out before 
him; closely and more closely it should be brought to 
press upon his conscience, till the heart begins to burn 
nnd glow and interest is felt ,and consciousness of sin, 
Jind hopes and desires for better things; then, when 
attention has been thoroughly roused, and the sympa- 
thies enlisted, then let the great sledge hammer blows 
strike home; then let yourself loose in all the fervor 
of longing desire to save ; then pour out your appeals, 
your warnings, your invitations ; and the terror of the 
Lord ,and the foulness of sin ,and the love of Christ, 
and the cross of Calvary, and the beauty of holiness, 
and the glory of eternity, and every emotion that the 
heart can feel, should be used to bring it to the per- 

182 



sonal and individual question, 'What must I do to be 
saved?' and to the definite resolve of the will, 'I will 
arise and go to my Father/ or 'Lord, I will follow thee 
whithersoever thou goest/ " 

The climax is now reached, and with the singing 
of some hymn in keeping with the impression sought 
to be produced, and the heartfelt dismissal with the 
benediction the work of the pastor in the pulpit for 
that service is ended; the results will be gathered in 
eternity. 



183 



LOOKING TOWARD HOME. 

John 14:2: "In my Father's house are many man- 
sions ; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to 
prepare a place for you." 

I have somewhere seen a picture suggestive of the 
eager longing of an aged couple for the heavenly home. 
A cottage stands by the brink of a river. It is the 
abode of peace and quietness and comfort. It is evi- 
dently the home of the lowly, for we see nothing of 
the trappings of wealth. The old people are sitting 
on an old bench, just outside the cottage door. It is 
the gloaming of the summer day. The work is done, 
and they sit together, pondering the words of the Book 
open before them: happy in their mutual love, and in 
the love of their common Lord. It is the sweet content 
of happy wedded life, sanctified by the Christ love. 
As the shadows lengthen, and the lines upon the sacred 
pages grow dim, they continue to muse upon the Mas- 
ter's words: "In my Father's house are many man- 
sions" — until the fire within them burns with the heat 
of a great longing to be there. And now, just beyond 
the river that flows at their feet there takes shape 
a beautiful vision. At the farthest end of a wide 
avenue stand the mansions of the blest. As they gaze, 
an eager longing takes possession of them to cross the 
river and participate in the rapture of the glorified. It 
is the home-sickness of the soul. It is thus that the 
appetite for heaven grows : 

"Prayer ardent opens heaven, lets down a stream 
Of glory on the consecrated hour 
Of man, in audience with the Deity." 

A Christian writer has put into exquisite verse a 
similar vision : 

184 



"There's a little low hut by the river side, 
Within the sound of its rippling tide : 
Its walls are grey with the mosses of years, 
And its roof all crumbled and old appears ; 
But fairer to me than castle's pride 
Is the little low hut by the river's side. 

That little low hut had a glad hearthstone, 
That echoed of old with a pleasant tone, 
And brothers and sisters, a merry crew, 
Filled the hours with pleasure as the hours flew ; 
But one by one the loved ones died, 
That dwelt in the hut by the river's side. 

The father revered, and the children gay, 

The graves of the world have called away: 

But quietly, all alone, here sits 

By the pleasant window, in summer, and knits, 

An aged woman, long years allied 

With the little hut by the river side. 

My mother — alone by the river side, 

She waits for the flood of the heavenly tide 

And the voice that shall thrill her heart with its call 

To meet once more with the dear ones all, 

And form, in a region beautiful, 

The band that once met by the river side." 

The text and the pictures give me three sugges- 
tions : 

First — The essential qualities of a happy earthly 
home. Certainly wealth is not essential. We see no 
indication of wealth in the cottage by the river side, 
and another poet rightly describes the happy home: 

"Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam, 
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home ! 
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 
Which ,seek through the world, is ne'er met with else- 
where. 

185 



An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain : 
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again ! 
The birds singing gaily that come at my call — 
Give me them — and the peace of mind dearer than 
all." 

(a) All through these charming verses is the spirit 
of love, without which home cannot be. The affection 
which binds kindred spirits together in oneness of fel- 
lowship, which leads to self-sacrificing devotion, and 
renders easy all needed forbearance and patience, and 
manifests itself continually in unobtrusive ministries of 
courtesy and kindness, and makes an atmosphere in 
which heart's ease can thrive — this is essential to a 
happy home. 

(b) Children must ever find a place in the ideal 
home. The twain in the picture I have given you 
appear lonely without the presence of children. Per- 
haps in their dream of the beautiful City they hear 
the patter of little feet upon the golden street that 
once used to make music in their home, and the sound 
intensifies their longing to be there. Children are 
sometimes termed, half in derision, the poor man's 
blessing, he so often has his quiver full of them; but 
certain it is, the home without the prattle of a child 
is sadly lacking*. One great element of happiness is 
wanting. 

"From a broad window my neighbor 
Looks down on our little cot, 
And watches the 'poor man's blessing' — 
I cannot envy his lot. 

He has pictures, and music, and books, 
Bright fountains, and noble trees, 
Rare store of blossoming roses, 
Birds from beyond the seas. 

But never does childish laughter 
His homeward footsteps greet; 

186 



His stately halls ne'er echo 
To the tread of innocent feet. 

Close to the crystal portal, 
I see by the gates of pearl, 
The eyes of our other angel — 
A twin-born little girl. 

And I ask to be taught and directed 
To guide his footsteps aright : 
So to live that I may be ready 
To walk in sandals of light — 

And hear, amid songs of welcome, 
From messengers trusty and fleet, 
On the starry floor of heaven, 
The patter of little feet." 

The children in the home, God bless them! How 
bright their presence, how radiant their smiles, how 
infectious their laughter, how winsome their touch, 
how wise their sayings! A weary mother, in a dis- 
heartened tone and manner, requested her little daugh- 
ter to bring her an apron from another floor. When 
the little service had been rendered the child said: 
"Mamma, what made you cry 'cause you forgot your 
apron?" "Why, I didn't cry." "Well, you sniveled." 
"No, Mamma didn't snivel." "Well, you didn't talk 
sunshiny, anyway." 

Another little girl had been spending the day with 
a friend. "Were you a good girl during your visit to- 
day?" "I don't know, Mamma. I just had so much 
fun that I forgot to pay any 'tention to myself." 

The following is told of a minister's four-year-old 
daughter. She did not like to be left alone in the dark, 
so her mother encouraged her as she tucked her in for 
the night by saying: "My little girl must be good and 
brave. There is nothing to be afraid of, and beautiful 
agnels will watch over you." As the mother went out, 

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the child murmured : "Beau-ti-ful an-gels; beau-ti-ful 
an-gels." And then suddenly the thump of two little 
feet on the floor, and a hasty rush from the room, with 
the exclamation: 'Mamma, it beats the dickens how 
scared I am with all those beautiful angels in there." 

(c) Only one other quality that I can think of as 
absolutely essential to a happy home — the love of God 
sanctifying the human love. This will help to smooth 
the ruffled brow of care, to take the pebbles out of the 
path, to pour oil on the troubled waters, and give a 
quiet, calm content amidst all the experiences of life. 
On the other hand, there is nothing like the love of God 
to provide incentive to action in a holy discontent with 
present achievements in grace, with a longing for the 
highest experiences in the world to come, and all these 
strengthening and uplifting influences cannot help but 
have a mighty effect for good in the home. 

This brings me to my second suggestion — what I 
have already referred to as the home-sickness of the 
soul. I think Paul had a touch of it when he wrote 
as he did to the church at Philippi: "What I shall 
choose I know not, but I am in a strait between the 
two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ: 
for it is very far better; yet to abide in the flesh is 
more needful for your sake." Someone has given us 
this beatitude, which I think a good one: "Blessed are 
they that are homesick, for they shall come at last to 
their Father's house.' This is a homesickness which 
is worth cultivating. One has put the thought in this 
way: 

"Yet oft, in the hours of holy thought, 
To the thirsting soul is given 
That power to pierce through the mist of sense, 
To the beauteous scenes of heaven. 

Then very near seem the pearly gates, 
And sweetly its harpings fall ; 

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'Till the soul is restless to soar away, 
And longs for the angels' call." 

I have sometimes heard it sneeringly said that while 
Christians talk a great deal about the joys of heaven, 
yet no one is found who is quite ready to take his 
departure for that world of light. In the case of the 
truly consecrated it is the sense of responsibility for 
the earthly task, and the thought of achievements for 
God in this world that hold them here; even as Paul 
declared in the words above quoted. When life's work 
is done it will be joy to depart, and to be with Christ. 

We now come to the third division of our theme — 
the mansions of the blest. I rejoice in the thought that 
there will be plenty of room in the many mansions. 
They are not built on the plan ofthe modern sky- 
scrapers. It is true that we do not know very much 
about the temple where God dwells, and where we shall 
have His presence and His glory. God's typical house 
upon earth became desolate when Christ went away; 
but God's real heavenly home shall be filled with the 
many whom He leads to glory. 

For such our Elder Brother is now preparing a place. 
What must the place be which he shall prepare? 
Whatever home signifies, in all that is noblest and best, 
sweetest and purest, that shall be ours in the home of 
the soul. 

"At home. For thou hast reached, 
At length, through wearying toils and sighs of pain, 
The far-off shore our faith so dimly sees, 
Looking through tears. The pearly gates flung wide 
To welcome thee, are passed ! the threshold crossed : 
Of thine own mansion — one of the many fully pre- 

prepared 
And waiting to receive three. Blessed state! 

From every ill secure ; for round thee now 
The walls of heaven's eternal city rise! 

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Her stately towers and glittering domes and spires 
Gleaming on high in heaven's eternal light ; 
And birds of paradise, and fruits and flowers, 
And trees immortal and the sunny banks 
Of living waters — all are before thee, round thee, 
All are thine ; angels thy company ; and God 
Father of all, adored of all, glory of all, 
Even God is thine." 

And so, no longer looking toward home, longing for 
home, homesick for heaven, but now participating in 
the joys of the redeemed, taking up eternal residence 
in the many mansions — home at last ! 



190 



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